My thesis will focus on the period in which the automobile emerged, namely the turn of the 19th and 20th century. It will give a short description of how motoring started in general, and how it developed in the most influential countries in Europe as well as in the United States in particular. While in the late 19th century the inventions related to the automobile came from Western European countries and influenced the American automobile pioneers, some decades later an opposite tendency coming from the United States began to affect European car-making industry. The focus will be on American motoring and the early automobile pioneers, among others Henry Ford.