Steam-powered wheeled vehicles, precursors to later automobiles
17th century – 18th century
Ferdinand Verbiest, a member of a Jesuit mission in China, built the first steam-powered vehicle around 1672 as a toy for the Chinese Emperor. It was of small enough scale that it could not carry a driver but it was, quite possibly, the first working steam-powered vehicle (‘auto-mobile’).
Steam-powered self-propelled vehicles large enough to transport people and cargo were first devised in the late 18th century.
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot demonstrated his fardier à vapeur (“steam dray”), an experimental steam-driven artillery tractor, in 1770 and 1771.