The invention of the car was a gradual process involving multiple inventors over centuries, but the first practical modern automobile is credited to Karl Benz. In 1885, Benz, a German mechanical engineer, designed and built the first gasoline-powered automobile with an internal combustion engine, known as the Benz Patent Motorwagen. He received a patent for this vehicle in 1886, and it is considered the first true car because it was practical and used technology similar to modern cars, including spark plugs, a throttle system, and a radiator

. Before Benz, there were earlier self-propelled vehicles:

• Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built the first steam-powered road vehicle in 1769 in France, which was a three-wheeled military tractor

• Robert Anderson developed an early electric carriage in the 1830s in Scotland

• Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach, also from Germany, created a four-wheeled vehicle with a four-stroke gasoline engine in 1886-1889, contributing significantly to automotive engine development

Thus, while many contributed to the development of automobiles, Karl Benz is most often credited as the inventor of the first modern car due to his patent and successful production of a gasoline-powered vehicle designed as a car rather than a modified carriage