Historiography of the development of the automotive industry dedicated to drivers with disabilities

The article presents retrospections of technological solutions for the construction of vehicles and adaptive devices used by drivers with disabilities. The author explored the subject using the method of historiographic analysis to collect and report the research material indicated in this study, taking into account the perspective of the development of science in this field. The study contains a dozen or so examples of vehicles that were constructed in the years 1945-2000, adaptive devices, microcars and autonomous vehicles dedicated to people with disabilities. The main purpose of the work was to draw attention to the trend in the development of simple technical solutions based on motorcycle mechanics to more complex autonomous vehicles. The direction in which the development of the automotive industry is heading is optimistic, although it still requires attention to be payed to certain aspects that will affect the use of the technological potential hidden in its capabilities. The study does not describe adaptive devices on the scale that is used, but rather shows that these measures were not perfect and were not based on relevant mobility needs.