Autonomous motor vehicles, or self-propelled (usually oil-powered) land vehicles, were a key piece of transportation in the later Oshmondu.

Dwarven Inventions

The very first motor vehicle was a coal-powered tracked vehicle destined for military purposes and built by the Dwarven Empire. The Dwarves hoped to create a mobile armored platform for heavy weaponry as an equivalent to small coal-powered gunboats used in coastal (often marine landing) combat. These designs were very rudimentary and proved to be of limited usefulness during the Orc Wars. They were very heavy, large, slow, and had a limited range, meaning they could only be used defensively, and were often redundant because bunkers and other sedentary fortifications outcompeted them. Only around 40 such vehicles were built, most of which saw active use, but no other state dabbled in this technology. Naval and some marine warfare was the focus of the day, and the heavy vehicles - which the light disposable marine craft of the day could not carry - were irrelevant to this. They were also unusable underground or in any kind of rough terrain.

Oil ships were developed in 17 OW, and prototype oil-powered tracked motor vehicles were built in 30 OW, this time for civilian use as tractors in mines and agriculture. They diversified and grew reasonably advanced.

Some vehicles with military intent were built, though these were not widely used, primarily due to the Dwarven Empire's lack of military involvement. Tanks were only built after their effectiveness was proven by human armies and Dwarven marines and infantry started being used; mechanized infantry using trucks, armored personnel carriers, and artillery tanks came to form the military's core.

In Human Societies

Human societies in the process of reconstruction started purchasing Dwarven Trakters, civilian-use draft vehicles. These were useful in industrial areas where horses couldn't be applied, and to pull heavy loads. These vehicles were not top-of-the-line (since sophisticated vehicles cost far more and were only profitable in dwarven mines), being relatively large and clumsy, but they were powerful and had decent autonomy. Though the Dwarves did have some vehicles used as weapons platforms, they did not sell these to humans in accordance with their weaponry sales moratorium.

In 83 OW, Holderhold Empire engineers found a way to get around this, however: they mounted armored an armored turret and auto-cannon on top, and plates on the front and sides, of civilian Trakters. The fuel and motors were reasonably protected, and the lack of space for gunners was compensated by using mainly goblin personnel. The People's Vanguard was commonly involved in marine landings, and the new gun-trakters - in combination with Whale-class ships, large oil-powered landing barges able to carry the vehicles and sizeable infantry units in support - proved very effective at protecting and supporting marines. Cuprien promptly followed suit, remodeling their own Dwarven-made Trakters.

By 110, human understanding of oil engines had progressed sufficiently for the construction of their own vehicles; Cuprien was always slightly ahead of Holderhold in this regard. The two sides developed industrial tractors, then every more sophisticated tanks. Wheeled vehicles in all forms came a decade later, though these remained a luxury, military, and industrial asset.