In 1882, Daimler made himself independent, setting up his first workshop in Cannstatt, today part of Stuttgart.Then he arranged for Wilhelm Maybach to join him from Deutz. Henceforth, Daimler devoted his attention to the four-stroke engine, which had to be made still smaller, lighter and more efficient to increase its field of application and its suitability for mobile use. By 1883, he had taken out Patent No. 28 022 on the first small, light, high-speed combustion engine. Daimler was so successful in improving the engine that in 1885 it was installed for the first time in a"riding car" (the first motorcycle), one year later in a boat and finally, in 1886, in a carriage.

In 1890, the Daimler-Motoren Gesellschaft was founded in Cannstatt.With new,wealthy partners, engine building could now be pursued on a larger scale. By the time Gottlieb Daimler died, on 6th March 1900, he had already lived to see his engines prove themselves in practice.

The Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft was flourishing. Gottlieb Daimler married twice. By his first wife Emma, who died in 1889, he had five children. He married his second wife, Lina, in 1893. This union produced two further children. The Daimler house in TaubenheimstraBe, Cannstatt, was destroyed in the Second World War and the site is now part of the Kurpark.The garden shed in which Daimler and Maybach developed the high-speed engine survived and is today a museum.