Who was the first person in the world to invent the automobile?
1 Answers
The world's first automobile was invented by the German Karl Friedrich Benz. In 1885, he developed the world's first horse-carriage-style three-wheeled automobile and obtained the world's first automobile patent on January 29, 1886. This day is widely regarded as the birthday of the modern automobile, and Benz is later honored as the 'Father of Automobiles'. In 1887, Karl Benz sold his first automobile to the Frenchman Émile Roger, marking the first sale of a modern automobile in the world. In the same year, Karl Benz founded the world's first automobile manufacturing company—Benz & Cie. Benz devoted his entire life to the automobile industry. In 1886, another German, Gottlieb Daimler, installed his self-developed automobile engine onto a four-wheeled carriage, achieving a 'breathtaking' speed of 18 kilometers per hour. Thus, the first four-wheeled automobile in human history was born. Daimler established his company in 1890. There is some controversy regarding who should be credited as the inventor of the automobile, as the French hold a different view. The French argue that as early as before the Germans, the Frenchman Édouard Delamare-Deboutteville invented an automobile and filed a patent in 1884, which is indeed a fact. Unfortunately, he did not continue researching automobiles but instead applied the engine to industrial production, eventually becoming an industrial engine manufacturer and distancing himself from the automobile industry. However, one thing is certain: France's immense contributions to the development of the automobile are indelible, as the French were pioneers in the automobile industry, bringing automobile manufacturing into the true industrial production phase.
