Bertha Benz, born Bertha Ringer, was the first person who drove a car over a longer distance.

Wife of Carl Benz, she was the first person to drive an automobile over more than a very short distance. She drove with her 14 and 15 year old sons the newly constructed automobile August 5, 1888 from Mannheim to Pforzheim over a distance of 106 km. Other drives before were short and just trials with other persons helping. She did it without permission of her husband.

Links:

• The famous drive of Bertha Benz in English http://66.102.11.104/search?q=cache:ArRmRX_tD6gJ:www.womanmotorist.com/review/me
  rcedes-benz/jb-mercedes-sclass-2001.shtml+%22Bertha+Benz+%22+1888+drive&hl=en&ie
  =UTF-8
• The famous drive of Bertha Benz in German http://www.cms.daimlerchrysler.com/emb_classic/0,,0-195-78828-49-84707-1-0-0-0-0
  -0-434-78641-0-0-0-0-0-0-0,00.html