1940: Although unsuccessful as the Automatic Safety Transmission, a newly designed version of the AST by General Motors called the Hydra-Matic would become legendary. This fully automatic transmission (the first transmission requiring no clutch pedal) debuted as a $57 option in the 1940 Oldsmobile. The Hydra-Matic was the world's first mass-produced and commercially used fully automatic transmission.GM introduced the industry’s first fully automatic transmission, called Hydra-Matic, on the 1940 Oldsmobile. Like many prior GM innovations, it was soon adopted by the entire industry