In 1769 he developed the first vehicle driven by a steam
engine--a gun tractor commissioned by the French government. The
following year he produced the first mechanically driven "horseless
carriage"; his steam tricycle, driven by a steam engine, carried
four passengers and was the forerunner of the modern motor car.
It was the difficulty of carrying enough water to generate the steam
and the cumbersome nature of a steam engine that gave Otto's internal-combustion
engine the edge over steam for this purpose a century
later.
