What did the first automobile do?

The first automobiles, depending on how you define "automobile," didn't really *do* much. They were very basic, slow, unreliable contraptions. Their primary function was to demonstrate the principle of self-propelled road vehicles. They essentially just moved from point A to point B, albeit very slowly and with considerable effort. There wasn't a specific, singular "thing" they did beyond proving the concept of the internal combustion engine powering a road vehicle.