The First Car Ever Made
Who invented the car? Take a look at the history of the automobile.
Finding out who invented the car is a challenging and difficult work, and identifying the person responsible for it is a complex task. As there is not a precise definition of what a "car" is, there is a lot of debate around this question. Regardless, the car most often identified as the first ever, is the "Benz Patent-Motorwagen" patented by German engine designer and automotive engineer Karl Benz in 1886.
However, the "Benz Patent-Motorwagen" was not the first self-propelled vehicle. In 1769, Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot, a French inventor, built the first self-propelled vehicle. A steam-powered vehicle capable of human transportation, but moved at a walking pace (2 mph or 3.2 km/h) and had to stop every 20 minutes to build a new head of steam. Later, François Isaac de Rivaz, a Swiss inventor, designed an internal combustion engine, and used it to develop the world's first vehicle to be powered by such an engine. The early automobile history focused primarily on searching for a reliable portable power unit to propel the vehicle.
Karl Benz is credited for inventing the automobile because his car was practical, marketable and used a gasoline-powered internal combustion engine for everyday use.
