• Fleet management
  • Connected Car
  • Support
  • About
  • Jobs
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • more
Login to WEBFLEET
wfs abc
  • Products
  • Solutions
  • Industries
  • Partners
Call sales
0208 822 3605
Get a demo
wfs abc
Blog
  • Overview
  • Cost reduction
  • Driver management
  • Safety
  • more
Get a demo
Jump to content
wfs abc white

At Webfleet Solutions, we’re all about helping you get around. That’s why we use cookies to improve our sites, to offer information based on your interests and to interact with social media.

Jump to content

To improve your webfleet.com site experience at any time click here.

Jump to content

Cookie preferences

Direct marketing cookies and settings on Webfleet Solutions


About cookies

What are cookies?

A cookie is a text file placed on your computer, mobile device or device connected to your computer.

What kind of cookies are there?

There are different types of cookies. Functional cookies are placed to ensure that the website is function­ating properly.

Aside from the functional cookies, there are cookies to give you a more relevant web experience and serve relevant advert­ise­ments. In the cookiesetting above you can switch on/off cookies and settings which we use to make our content or advert­isement more relevant for you. More information on these cookies and settings can find below.

Functional cookies

Webfleet Solutions websites and services need to be able to store and retrieve information to provide you with the service or information you asked for. For example your language setting and username for login in. This is done through functional cookies. This storage and retrieval of information only happens when you use such a service. As these cookies are needed for a well function­ating website and to deliver the service they will placed on your device. Further we use site analytic cookies. We use Google Analytics, Google Optimize, Hotjar and Google Tag Manager to collect site analytics to constantly improve our website.

Person­al­iz­ation & advert­isement cookies and settings

When you are visiting our website or see our advert­ise­ments, we would like to give you a more relevant, person­alized experience. In order to do this, we use person­al­iz­ation & advert­isement cookies and settings. With these cookies we collect information about your interest and use this information to give you a more person­alized experience. We use the following cookies and settings:

  • Adwords: To offer you relevant advert­isement when you use the Google search engine or exclude you from seeing Webfleet Solutions advert­isement in Google.
  • Doubleclick: To offer you relevant advert­isement on webfleet.com or on external websites. Doubleclick is owned by Google. Here’s a link to their privacy policy: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/
  • Facebook: To offer you relevant advert­isement on Facebook, we use a Facebook cookie. This cookie is also placed when you have no Facebook account. By sharing your interest to Facebook we are able to offer you more relevant advert­ise­ments.
  • Bluekai: To offer you relevant advert­isement in the Bluekai network.
  • Bing: To offer you relevant advert­isement when you use the Bing search engine or exclude you from seeing Webfleet Solutions advert­isement in Bing.
  • Linkedin: To offer you relevant advert­isement at Linkedin or exclude you from seeing Webfleet Solutions advert­ise­ments on Linkedin. Webfleet Solutions also uses LinkedIn Analytics to gather user information in connection with our advert­ise­ments shown to you via Linkedin. We receive general Linkedin data about users who have seen our advert­isement such as details about Industry, Job Role, Region and Company size. Together with the cookie information we use this data to measure the effect­iveness of our online campaigns. If you visit Webfleet Solutions websites after you have clicked on our advert­isement, we see your interaction with our advert­ise­ments and use that information for performance measure­ments and improvement of our websites. This data is also sent to Linkedin and its affiliates to help them to understand the performance of our advert­ise­ments (e.g. downloaded a white paper or filled a contact form on the Webfleet Solutions site).
  • Pardot & Salesforce: To understand what our Business customers are interested in when visiting our website. With this information we can give our Business customers more relevant information.
  • Lead Forensics: We would like to follow up Business visitors who visited our Telematics website. To do this, the company address of the Business visitor is derived from the IP address by Lead Forensics. We use this information and the products they viewed on our Telematics website for marketing and sales purposes.

If you do not want these cookies or settings to be placed, just simply untick the cookie setting above and save your settings.

Does Webfleet Solutions use any other techno­logies than cookies?

Cookies are the main method used but sometimes information is stored and retrieved using other techno­logies, such as file transfer and Web API’s (Web Application Programming Interfaces) e.g. when you attach a Webfleet Solutions device to your computer.

Jump to content
wfs cutting costs in professional services whitepaper

How can you cut costs for your fleet?

wfs cutting costs in professional services whitepaper

Download the eBook today and find out how to get your fleet running costs under control.

Learn more
Jump to content

From October 1st 2020, please do not download or use any documents with a TomTom Telematics reference!

We are excited to inform you that a brand new Partner Portal will be launched in the upcoming weeks where only most recent, updated files will be available.

Jump to content
wfs cutton transport fleet costs whitepaper

Free eBook

wfs cutton transport fleet costs whitepaper

How can you cut your transport fleet costs?

Download eBook now

Technology inventions which changed the world – but nearly didn’t!

March 27, 2015 by Giles Margerison

8 technology innovations which changed the world but nearly didn’t

The path of technology innovation is rarely a straightforward one. The following 8 technology inventions all changed the world in radical ways… but very nearly didn’t!

Fleet management technology as we now know it is one crucial development that almost didn’t take off due to early barriers, and a number of other household inventions have similar stories.

Whether it is through a dubious reaction to their early introduction or because they were discovered by accident, there are many surprising examples of inventions we take for granted almost fading into obscurity.

Scroll through the picture slider below to find out these quirky fleet technology innovations

slider image

Intro

They were all either discovered by accident or initial reactions to them were so hostile or lukewarm that their progress was nearly hampered altogether.

  • share 
  • tweet  
  • share  
  • RSS feed 
slider image

1) The electric mouse

The computer mouse was conceived by US computer scientist Douglas Engelbart and developed by Xerox PARC, but it was only famously made marketable by Apple. In comparison to the Xerox model which cost $300 to make and only lasted 2 weeks, Steve Jobs reputedly asked for a mouse which could be manufactured for less than $15, not fail for a couple of years and work on both Formica and blue jeans.

  • share 
  • tweet  
  • share  
  • RSS feed 
slider image

2) The airplane black box

In the 1950s, Australian chemist David Warren was asked to calculate why the new British Comet aircraft was crashing. His suggestion to record flight data and voice recordings to assist in post crash investigations was initially completely dismissed on the basis that the recorder would just record pilots panicking and yield “more expletives than explanations”.

  • share 
  • tweet  
  • share  
  • RSS feed 
slider image

4) The x-ray

When physicist Wilhem Roentgen was projecting light through cathodic ray tubes, he noticed fluorescent papers in his laboratory were illuminated – even though his machine had an opaque cover.

  • share 
  • tweet  
  • share  
  • RSS feed 
slider image

5) The microwave oven

An engineer at the Raytheon Corporation first discovered microwave technology by accident in 1945 while conducting a radar-related research project with a new vacuum tube. When the chocolate bar in his pocket began to melt during the experiments, he used the technology to pop popcorn and went on to build the first microwave oven in 1947.

  • share 
  • tweet  
  • share  
  • RSS feed 
slider image

3) The touchscreen

In the 1970s, Dr. G. Samuel Hurst and his research team were using a Van de Graff accelerator that was only available at night to research atomic physics at the University of Kentucky. Tired by the slow progress, Hurst used electrically conductive paper to read a pair of x- and y- coordinates, allowing his students to compute in a few hours what had taken days. The idea led to the first touch screen for computers.

  • share 
  • tweet  
  • share  
  • RSS feed 
slider image

6) The ink-jet printer

An engineer from Canon accidentally discovered the technology behind inkjet printers after placing a hot iron on a pen by mistake. The heat caused the pen to eject ink from its tip, triggering the idea of using an electric-powered heating coil on ink-filled cartridges.

  • share 
  • tweet  
  • share  
  • RSS feed 
slider image

7) The pacemaker

While building a heart rhythm recording device, US researcher Wilson Greatbatch accidently plugged a resistor of the wrong size into the circuitry, triggering an on-off electrical pulse which simulates the heart’s natural beat.

  • share 
  • tweet  
  • share  
  • RSS feed 
slider image

8) Telematics

Although today’s sophisticated systems have their roots way back in1960s GPS technology developed by the US military, when the first vehicle tracking systems emerged in the 1990s, they initially met with hostile accusations of ‘big brother’ style spying from drivers.

However, the obvious link between driving more efficiently and driving more safely means that the technology has now been widely accepted as a key tenet of an employer’s duty of care responsibilities for mobile workforces.

The latest open API integration platforms also mean that the original tracking and navigation technology can now be combined with a host of other useful functions such as conducting vehicle safety checks, capturing a customer signature, avoiding traffic and confirming ETAs to customers, making mobile workers’ lives considerably easier.

Find out more about how to match the right fleet telematics system to your needs with our buyer’s guide to selecting the right fleet management solution

  • share 
  • tweet  
  • share  
  • RSS feed 
  • share 
  • tweet  
  • share  
  • RSS feed 

Tags: Service and maintenance

Related posts:

  • A Buratti delivery worker loads a Buratti truckFleet sustainability: Italian goods provider Buratti values nature, and Green Your Fleet is one of i...
    As importers and wholesalers of Italian foods and beverages for the hospitality sector, Buratti offers high-quality products that aren’t sold in supermarkets. Its first-class products include wines, mineral water, pasta, coffee, cheese and meats. On a daily basis, Buratti delivers supplies to more t...
  • Help to create a low-emission fleetDriving style key to low-emission fleet
    Are you committed to reducing your impact on the environment? At the moment, people are not doing enough to protect the planet - total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are still on the rise, reaching approximately 52.7 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2014. [1] You don’t need us...
  • fleet winter drivingWinter driving tips for business fleets
    Winter driving can be challenging, even for the most experienced of drivers. Motorists have to contend with a number of winter-related issues, including reduced visibility due to darker hours and adverse weather conditions. When the road is your workplace, the risk of an incident rises signifi...

Category: Trends and technologies

One thought on “Technology inventions which changed the world – but nearly didn’t!”

Aslam says:

Future life new Technology & modern industry

April 20, 2015 at 6:22 pm Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Blog categories

  • Fleet management
  • Driver management
  • Electric mobility
  • Cost reduction
  • Trends and technologies
  • Safety
  • Legislation and regulation
  • Vehicle management
  • Sustainability

Popular posts

van_rules

The Final Word on Van Regulation

November 26, 2013 by Giles Margerison

Commercial Vehicle Insight: Is Enough Being Done to Ensure the Safety of Van Drivers?

December 5, 2013 by Webfleet Solutions

vehicle_safety

Your Guide to Van Safety Tech, Now and in the Future

November 20, 2013 by Giles Margerison


Learn More

  • Free Downloads and Resources
  • Read our White Paper on Top Fuel Saving Tips for Business
  • Sign up to receive alerts of new posts

Archives

  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • January 2022
  • November 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013

Tags

  • Service and maintenance
  • Transport
  • Courier services
  • Passenger transport
  • Construction
Products
Fleet managementVehicle trackingFleet optim­isationWorkflow managementGreen and eco safe driving for fleetsBusiness integrationMileage log bookProfes­sional Navigation and trafficDigital tachographAsset trackingElectric vehicles (EVs)
Technology
WEBFLEETLINKPRO Driver TerminalsMobile Apps
Buy
How to buyContact salesFind partner
Industries
Service and maintenanceTransport and logisticsCourier servicesPassenger transportUtilitiesHealth careEmergency servicesSales fleetConstructionFleet management for refri­gerated transport
Talk to sales
0208 822 3605
Subscribe to our newsletter

Receive the latest industry news, product announce­ments and fleet management updates.

Also visit
Connected Car
Help
Technical supportFAQDevice activationSolution AdvisorSavings Calculator
Learn
BlogGuides & WhitepapersCase studiesFleet Management GlossaryKnowledge & Insights
Partners
Become a sales partnerBecome an integration partnerDeveloper resourcesPartner Portal
Info
PrivacyTerms & ConditionsTerms of useAbout usJobsPress Centre

Copyright © 2006 – 2022 Bridgestone Mobility Solutions B.V. All rights reserved.

Webfleet Solutions story

Jump to content

Want to boost your business?

Subscribe to our newsletter and get valuable fleet insights: free guides, advice, how-tos and more.

Get valuable fleet insights that boost your business

Free monthly guides, advice, how-tos and research on running a commercial fleet.

Want to boost your business?

Subscribe to our newsletter and get valuable fleet insights: free guides, advice, how-tos and more.

Get valuable fleet insights that boost your business

Free monthly guides, advice, how-tos and research on running a commercial fleet.

Please enter your first name.
Please enter your last name.
Please enter your Email address
Please choose the type of industry.

Your personal data is safe with us. See our privacy policy for more details.

The meeting details are sent to the provided e-mail address.

You will be redirected in ...

Redirecting.

Jump to content

Select your country

Africa
South Africa
Americas
ChileColombiaMéxicoUnited States
Asia Pacific
AustraliaNew Zealand
Europe
Belgique (Français)België (Nederlands)Česká RepublikaDanmarkDeutschlandEspañaFranceHungaryIrelandItalia
NederlandÖsterreichPolskaPortugalSchweiz (Deutsch)Suisse (Français)SverigeSvizzera (Italiano)United Kingdom