History of the First Automobile

The history of the first automobile is a very muddled one. There are many possibilities and many more proponents of who created the first automobile.

How could the history of the first automobile be so muddled? Well, the problem comes down to the basic question of how you define an automobile. The truth is there is no agreed upon answer. As a result, there is no agreed upon first automobile. That doesn’t mean there are not some good candidates. Let’s take a look.

Father Ferdinand Verbiest was Jesuit missionary in China. During his travels, he happened to become an acquaintance of the Emperor of China. In 1672, he built a small steam powered vehicle for the Emperor. So, why isn’t it considered the first automobile? It was tiny, more like a car, and could not carry people.

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot is next in line and the person most credited with the creation of the first automobile. In 1769, he converted a horse drawn vehicle into a passenger car. This “car”, however, has come under major criticism in the last 20 years as it appears the vehicle would neither be propelled by an independent energy source nor be stable enough.

The next major advance was in 1806. A Swiss inventor, François Isaac de Rivaz, came up with one of the key inventions of the last 200 plus years – the internal combustion engine. Ironically, the car was powered by hydrogen and oxygen mixes, the very substance many are looking to for the “hydrogen civilization” that would be an alternative to the current oil based version. Alas, the engine was very inefficient and would not pick up steam until much later when the platform for the automobile was developed.

After many false starts, the first modern automobile as it is known was created by Karl Benz. Perhaps you recognize the last name. Yes, it is the Benz in Mercedes Benz. In 1885, he built a four cylinder engine that powered a small, rickety car. He was granted patents related to the invention and the rest, as they say, was history.

The history of the first automobile is much like the history of most inventions. There are lots of false starts, but a solution is finally reached by some very amazing inventors.

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