It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anaesthetic and analgesic effects, where it is commonly known as laughing gas due to the euphoric effects of inhaling it. It is also used as a means to enable short periods of extreme high performance in automobile internal combustion engines by introducing extra oxygen into the intake charge which in turn allows a greater amount of fuel to be added and converted into energy and thereby greatly increasing the power produced by the engine. Nitrous oxide is present in the atmosphere where it acts as a powerful greenhouse gas.
French engineer Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built a steam-powered vehicle in 1769, designed to haul cannons, and it's often called the first self-propelled road vehicle.
Charles Kettering invented the electric starter, which first appeared on the 1912 Cadillac and ended the need to start cars with a dangerous hand crank.