A: Steam actually was used to power cars once upon a time, and for that French engineer Nicolas Joseph Cugnot certainly doesn’t get the credit he deserves. Constantly booted out of the limelight by Henry Ford and his motor car, Cugnot was actually the first person to invent a self-propelled road vehicle … despite it’s being a steam-powered one. His creation, developed circa 1769, used a steam engine and boiler to generate power. A tiny, tiny bit of power. Unfortunately, the contraption had to stop every 10 to 15 minutes in order to build up enough steam to resume its speedy 25 mph traveling velocity. And while the French Army used it for a bit to haul artillery, other than that, it didn’t have many practical uses. On the up side, Cugnot did nab one claim to fame that Ford could never take away from him. After driving one of his road vehicles into a stone wall in 1771, Cugnot became the first person in history to have a motor vehicle accident.