The Fardier a vapeur is a steam powered, three wheeled vehicle that French engineer Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built in 1769, designed as an artillery tractor for the French army capable of hauling heavy guns. Though slow and difficult to steer, it is widely regarded as the first self propelled land vehicle in history, predating the gasoline automobile by more than a century.
Facts
SignificanceA full size version built in 1770 was specified to carry four tons and cover 7.8 kilometers in one hour, a performance it never achieved in practice. 1 Manufacturer or BuilderBuilt by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot for the French Army 1 Connections
Followed By
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot's steam powered fardier a vapeur of 1769-1770 preceded the Benz Patent Motorwagen of 1885 as a self-propelled road vehicle; whether it counts as the first automobile proper, versus Benz's design, is a separate, largely definitional dispute already noted in the atlas's founding attribution disputes.
Source Wikipedia: Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot
WikipediaLead section
was a French inventor who built the world's first full-size and working self-propelled mechanical land-vehicle,
First self-propelled vehicle section, second paragraph
In 1770, a full-size version of the fardier a vapeur was built, specified to be able to carry four tons and cover two lieue (7.8 km, or 4.8 miles) in one hour, a performance it never achieved in practice.
First self-propelled vehicle section, first paragraph
A small version of his three-wheeled fardier a vapeur was made and used in 1769
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