The Benz Patent-Motorwagen (or motorcar), built in 1886, is widely regarded as the first automobile, that is, a vehicle designed to be propelled by a motor. It is important to note, however, that the first automobile fatality

Mary Ward (scientist)

Mary Ward was an Irish amateur scientist who was killed when she fell under the wheels of an experimental steam car built by her cousins. As the event occurred in 1869, she is the world's first known motor vehicle accident victim...

 on record occurred in 1869, during the preceding era of steam-powered cars.

The vehicle was awarded the German patent

Patent

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

, number 37435, for which Karl Benz

Karl Benz

Karl Friedrich Benz, was a German engine designer and car engineer, generally regarded as the inventor of the gasoline-powered car, and together with Bertha Benz pioneering founder of the automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz...

 applied on January 29, 1886.