Did you know that a Flemish Jesuit designed a self-propelled vehicle as early as the 17th century? Around 1672, Ferdinand Verbiest, a missionary at the Chinese imperial court, created a small steam-powered vehicle as a toy for Emperor Kangxi. This remarkable model, just 65 cm long, was designed to demonstrate the power of steam.
The mechanism was simple yet ingenious: a spherical boiler heated water to produce steam, which powered a rudimentary turbine that set the wheels in motion. Although no original drawings have survived, Verbiest described his invention in his manuscript Astronomia Europea, published in 1687.
For a long time, historians debated whether the vehicle was ever actually built. However, modern reconstructions have shown that the concept was technically feasible.
Although Verbiest’s vehicle could not carry passengers and does not fit the modern definition of a car, he is often regarded as a pioneer of self-propelled vehicles – more than 200 years before Karl Benz and Daimler. A fascinating chapter in automotive history, born from the ingenuity of a Flemish inventor in China, with a working model now on display at Autoworld in Brussels.
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