The first car was invented on January 29, 1886 by a man named Karl Benz. Karl Benz made a horseless carriage by using the internal combustion engine that is widely used today by most cars. Only 10 years later, Henry Ford, the founder of the popular car brand today Ford Motor Company, also started making cars using the internal combustion engine.
The internal combustion engine was invented in 1876 by Nicolaus Otto, George Brayton, Etienne Lenoir, and Samuel Brown. These four men devoloped a new way of getting power. They dicovered that by burning gasoline, the hot gasses could be used to drive one or more pistons to generate power. This engine was made as a substitute for the steam powered engine.
Cars today have come a long way from 1886 to now. The first internal combustion engine was a low power, small, and more innovicient engine. We went from a single piston engine creating 0.75 horsepower with a top speed of 10mph, to the biggest engine now being a W16 (16 pistons) creating 1479 horsepower with a top speed of 267mph. Now not only do we have gas engines we also have electric motors that are being used in cars and can create more power then ever before by using a recharable system to help cut down on polution and oil consumption. Thanks to modern technology and computers, we are able to so many more things like run diagnostics, do research, graph power, and many more things.