You can see how bicycles helped lead to motorcycles and cars and trucks

 The technology evolved through bicycles to motorcycles and then buggies and carriages of various kinds led to trucks and cars with Gasoline and Diesel engines. However, an important concept that helped in all this too were Steam engines on trains because the basic idea of a steam powered train with cylinders was converted to gasoline engines and diesel engines using the same cylinder idea for propulsion.

But, without the steam engine being built first for trains and ships it is hard to see how gasoline and diesel engines would have been invented (at least the way they are presently) without a steam engine first being invented.

It's amazing to me that you have to go back to start with a section of a tree being used as a wheel or a cart to move rocks and bigger trees and eventually buildings and things. Then that wheel