Who invented the first automoble?

There's no single inventor of the first automobile, as it was a process of evolution with many contributors. However, Karl Benz is widely credited with inventing the first practical automobile. His Benz Patent-Motorwagen, built in 1886, is generally considered the first true automobile because it was a self-propelled vehicle designed for personal transportation and met several key criteria for what we consider a car today. While others had built self-propelled vehicles before, Benz's was the first to be truly practical and commercially viable.