The Inventor

• A French army captain actually gets the credit for having invented the very first self-propelled vehicle. His name was Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot. The year was 1769.
  
  

Steam Power

• Instead of the internal combustion engine that powers most modern vehicles, Cugnot's car was run by a steam engine. This caused a great many problems, including the fact that it had to stop every twenty minutes to build up fresh steam pressure.
  
  

The Fardier a Vapeur

• This car was named the Fardier a vapeur. It was built out of a three-wheeled cart used to transport heavy artillery. The top speed was nearly three miles an hour and it could seat four people.
  
  

Practicality

• Cugnot had hoped that his car would be a great success. He had planned to use it to transport cannons and other heavy loads for the army. However, the machine was not adopted by the French army as he had hoped. It was too impractical and reportedly caused several accidents at the Arsenal.
  
  

The Fardier a Vapeur Today

• Although his invention was not practical, Cugnot was granted a pension for his services and the original Fardier a Vapeur is still around today, at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers in Paris.