A self-propelled motor vehicle for passenger transportation with four or more wheels, a driving compartment, and a powered engine (usually internal combustion) fueled by a liquid petroleum fuel. The automobile is one of the world’s most universally useful modern technologies, and its production a major industry. It also represents a significant economic and social force, making it the backbone of a consumer goods-oriented society. In addition, automobiles are among the most important sources of employment in the economy and a prime customer for many other industrial products such as steel, petroleum, and chemicals.
The scientific and technological building blocks of the automobile can be traced back several hundred years, but the first practical automobiles appeared only in the late 1800s. Siegfried Marcus, a German working in Vienna, built the first gasoline-powered automobile. It was a crude device with no seats, brakes, or steering, but it did prove that the automobile could be driven at high speeds.
Automobiles became commonplace in the United States after 1920. Henry Ford innovated manufacturing techniques that revolutionized industrial production, and his Model T made the car affordable for middle-class families. The automotive industry became the cornerstone of a new consumer goods-oriented society, and a source of national pride.
Today, more than 1.4 billion vehicles with four to eight wheels and an internal-combustion engine powered by gasoline or another liquid petroleum fuel are in operation worldwide. In the United States alone, more than three trillion miles (five trillion kilometers) are traveled each year by motorists. Modern life is virtually inconceivable, or at least highly inconvenient, without access to a private vehicle.