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American Oliver Evans receives the first US patent for a steam-powered land vehicle.
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In Great Britain, inventor Richard Trevithick builds a steam powered road carriage. It is considered to be the first tramway locomotive. It is designed for use on road, not railroad.
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English engineer and inventor English engineer and inventor Samuel Brown invents an internal combustion engine. It has separate combustion and working cylinders, and is used to power a vehicle.
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Belgian engineer Jean-Joseph-Etienne Lenoir invents the “horseless carriage.”This is the first commercially successful internal combustion engine.
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American inventor George Baldwin files the first U.S. Patent for an automobile. This invention is more similar to a wagon with an internal combustion engine.
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German engine designer Karl Benz builds the first true automobile powered by a gasoline engine. It has three wheels and looked similar to a carriage.
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Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach invent the first four-wheeled, four-stroke engine in Germany. It is known as the “Cannstatt-Daimler.”
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Brothers Frank and Charles Edgar Duryea invent the first successful gas-powered car in the United States.
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Ford’s Model T production rockets from 7.5 cars per hour to 146 cars per hour, thanks to the utilization of the assembly line.
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Wisconsin becomes the first state to create a seat belt law. It calls for the seatbelt to be a standard requirement in automobile. Air bags become a new car safety option. New York state becomes the first state with a law requiring the use of seatbelts
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Many vehicle manufacturers begin to abandon once popular gas-guzzling SUVs for more efficient vehicles due to environmental concerns and the recession.
