The fardier à vapeur (which translates to "steam dray") is more like a truck, in the modern sense, than a car. Or it's more ... with a two-handed tiller design, which operates a rack-and-pinion ...

None really worked all that well, but the first feasible self-propelled vehicle was Nicholas Cugnot's steam dray. By "feasible ... his private collection of cars. The Cugnot is the centerpiece ...