Karl Benz's "Velo" model (1894) - entered into an early automobile race

Passenger cars in 2000

World map of passenger cars per 1000 people. An automobile (via French from Greek auto, self and Latin mobilis moving, a vehicle that moves itself rather than being moved by another vehicle or animal) or motor car (usually shortened to just car) is a wheeled passenger vehicle that carries its own motor. Most definitions of the term specify that automobiles are designed to run primarily on roads, to have seating for one to eight people, to typically have four wheels, and to be constructed principally for the transport of people rather than goods.[1] However, the term is far from precise because there are many types of vehicles that do similar tasks. There were 590 million passenger cars worldwide (roughly one car for every eleven people) as of 2002.[2]