In 1769, the very first self-propelled road vehicle was a military tractor invented by French engineer and mechanic, Nicolas Joseph Cugnot (1725 - 1804). Cugnot used a steam engine to power his vehicle, built under his instructions at the Paris Arsenal by mechanic Édouard Brezin. It was used by the French Army to haul artillery at a whopping speed of 2 1/2 mph on only three wheels.