In 1876 a gentleman by the name of Sir Douglas Clerk invented the first successful two stroke engine; it then took until 1885 for this design to be revised into a prototype of the modern gas engine by another gentleman called Gottlieb Daimler. The following year, in 1886, Karl Benz obtained the first patent for a gas fueled vehicle. Vehicles back then were nothing like modern vehicles of today. The first prototypes had very little, if any, forms of suspension and the steering systems were very crude. They were built to prove a point and serve a basic service, the point they made was that it was no longer necessary to rely on horse and carriage for transport as a vehicle was available that did not require manual propulsion.
Over the following decades the vehicles were reformed including things like hand controlled braking systems, seats formed with suspensions built into them. Sometimes windows were added to the shield drivers from the elements, engines were reinvented using the same basic principals producing more horsepower and allowing faster transportation from one place to another.
Entering into the more modern era of automobiles, more attention was starting to be paid to driver comfort, suspension systems were designed to help absorb the shock of the road, designers started to understand the importance of aerodynamics and started using those principals in the designs of the outer body shells of the vehicles. In later years we saw the addition of radio's and integrated heating systems to add more drivers comfort. Combining newly discovered technologies that were reworked into new engine designs which proved to be more dependable and economic to run.
Coming up to current times, modern vehicles are centered around driver safety and comfort. These two main points have made it possible to make technological advances on both the interior of today's vehicles and also the exterior designs. It is quite common to get into one of today's vehicles and see a fully electronic dashboard that can tell you much info about the vehicle itself all while you are sitting in the driver's seat. Most vehicles can tell you such things as outside air temperature, interior compartment temperature and they come with a climate control system in which you can set the target temperature and forget about it since the cars computer itself. Also available on allot of the newer vehicles is built in navigation systems which can help you get from point a to point b without the need to consult maps. There are even sensors on some vehicles that allow you to know the tire pressure without even getting out of the car.
The demands of the consumers play a large role in what is included when vehicles are produced nowdays. If something seems to be useful or an added bell or whistle then the manufacturer will add it to the next model expecting to draw more consumers into buying their product.