The earliest full-scale automobile was the first of two military steam tractors, completed at the Paris Arsenal in October 1769 by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot (1725-1804). It reached a maximum speed of 4km/h (2.5mph). Cugnot’s second, larger tractor, completed in May 1771, today survives in the Conservatoire Nationale des Arts et Métiers in Paris.

The first of Cugnot’s vehicles, the voiture et petit (‘carriage in miniature’) was authorized by the Minister of War for the carrying of cannons. It was tested early in 1770 and could carry four people easily at 4km/h (2.5mph), but had to stop for the boiler to be refilled by hand every 15 minutes. The second truck was designed to carry a 4-5 tonne payload, but by the time it was completed the government lost interest and nothing more was done. Reports of ‘unofficial’ tests in the grounds of the Paris Arsenal indicate that this second vehicle ran quite well and that it may have run into and damaged a low wall during one of its runs. Stories that Cugnot was ‘flung into prison’ and his vehicle confiscated appear to be pure myth.