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Scientists at Rice University in Texas have created the world's smallest 'car', thousands of times thinner than a human hair.

The Nanocar has a chassis with pivoting suspension and freely rotating axles. The wheels are 'buckyballs', spheres of pure carbon containing 60 atoms apiece.

"The synthesis and testing of nanocars and other molecular machines is providing critical insight in our investigations of bottom-up molecular manufacturing," said one of the two lead researchers, James M. Tour, Chao Professor of Chemistry, professor of mechanical engineering and materials science, and professor of computer science.

"We would eventually like to move objects and do work in a controlled fashion on the molecular scale, and these vehicles are great test beds for that. They are helping us learn the ground rules."

The entire nanocar measures just 3-4 nanometres across, making it slightly wider than a strand of DNA. A human hair, by comparison, is about 80,000 nanometres in diameter.

Nanotech cars have been built before but this is the first to have wheels that roll, rather than being dragged across a surface.

The creators had to heat the base material under the car to 200 degrees Celsius to break the strong electrical bonds holding the atoms down before demonstrating that the wheels could rotate.

The team has been researching this area for eight years, and is also building a light-powered nanocar and a nanotruck capable of carrying a payload.