The tough beginnings of the steam era
As far as we know, the first automobile worthy of the name got going 250 years ago, in 1796. Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot (1725-1804), a French military engineer, built a giant steam-powered wagon – not, it must be said, to motorise the world, but in order to move heavy weaponry around. This vehicle, also a three-wheeler, guaranteed that Cugnot would go down in history not only as the first creator of an automobile, but also – according to a highly dubious legend – as the first person to be in a traffic accident, when he lost control of his steam engine and crashed into a wall.