Society of Automotive Engineers

SAE International (SAE) is a professional organization for mobility engineering professionals in the aerospace, automotive, and commercial vehicle industries. The Society is a standards development organization for the engineering of powered vehicles of all kinds, including cars, trucks, boats, aircraft, and others. Membership is open to the public for those particularly interested in Human Factors and Ergonomic Standards

n the early 20th century there were dozens of automobile manufacturers in the United States. Many of these manufacturers joined trade groups that allowed them to promote the industry and raise public awareness related to the automobile. A need for patent protection and the development of engineering standards emerged during this time.

Two magazine men of the era: Peter Heldt of The Horseless Age, and Horace Swetland of The Automobile advocated the creation of SAE. Heldt wrote an editorial in June 1902 in which he said, "Now there is a noticeable tendency for automobile manufacturers to follow certain accepted lines of construction, technical questions constantly arise which seek solution from the cooperation of the technical men connected with the industry. These questions could best be dealt with by a technical society. The field of activity for this society would be the purely technical side of automobiles." Likewise, Swetland used his editorial power to drum up support for the creation of an organization like SAE. Swetland went on to become one of the founding officers in the organization.

Starting out as the Society of Automobile Engineers in 1905, SAE's original purpose was to promote the use of standards in the nascent automobile industry (initially in the United States) and to promote the better interchange of ideas and expertise, in a similar manner to many other technical societies.