Way back when. #1 Jenny Ball

The idea of "cars" has been around as far back as 1478 when Leonardo da Vinci sketched the idea of a self propelled car [1]. Since then, prototypes of steam powered cars were created, but with the driver needing to peddle and a top speed of 5m/h, these were swiftly left in the shadows. The first steps towards "modern" cars wasn't until 1885 when a German mechanical engineer Karl Benz built a three wheeled car with an internal combustion engine. 

For the first of its kind, Benz car was fairly advanced. Equipped on the car was a tubular steel frame, electric coil ignition, automatic intake slide, high-speed single-cylinder four-stroke engine, rack and pinion steering, evaporating cooling system, high-voltage electrical vibrator ignition with spark plugs, a controlled exhaust valve and differential rear- end gears. This had also made progression from the steam powered cars with a top speed of 8 m/h from a 0.75 horse powered engine. [2] [3]. He continued innovating in the automotive industry contributing numberous inventions to the industry including twin engines etc. He later developed the multinational company known all over the world today as Mercedes-Benz after his daughter. 

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The combustion engine was an idea around as early as around 1680, but it wasn't until 1859 when a French engineer J.J Etienne Lenior built the first effective gasoline powered engine. [4] The gasoline powered internal combustion engine used in Benz's car was a simple principle, it worked on a basis of combusting fuel with air. There was no compression like there is now, any amount of mixture of air and fuel could be sucked into the engine during the first part of the intake stroke. [5]

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In 1885, when Benz took his first test drive in what was essentially a three wheeled gasoline powered horse cart, the innovations and creations that we know so well now in the automotive industry, at that time couldn't have even been imagined. In 1885, the Benz car was a very simple go cart, now embedded systems have made their debut in the industry to make cars: faster, more comfortable, safer, self driving etc. you name it, they can do it. Embedded systems are used throughout modern cars (and in the design of futuristic cars) to make, anti-locking braking systems, electronic throttles, parking assist, anti collision detection, cruise control, climate control, airbags, entertainment systems, etc. the list is endless. The only question that remains, is what is next?

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[1] http://auto.howstuffworks.com/da-vinci-car1.htm
[2] https://www.asme.org/engineering-topics/articles/automotive/karl-benz
[3] https://www.daimler.com/company/tradition/company-history/1885-1886.html
[4] http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/science/internal-combustion-engine-evolution-internal-combustion-engine.html
[5] http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Internal_combustion_engine
[6] http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2012/ph240/crowe2/
[7] http://1000projects.org/automation-of-cars-embedded-systems-seminar-for-electronics-students.html