Not the OP but civilisation didn't start with the invention of the motor car. If you look at our general wellbeing it hasn't shifted one iota over the period that cars become pervasive.
Cars became pervasive around the early 1900's. Are you seriously suggesting the average person's general wellbeing hasn't changed since 1908? I guess we could debate if cars were a critical technology to spur such change, but I don't know I can debate someone who disagrees that the average person was just as well off in 1920 compared to 2020. In what measures would you consider the person in the developed world in 1920 to be just as well off as the average person in the developed world in 2020? I limit this to just developed world because that would be where automobiles would have had the greater impact or lack of impact despite pervasiveness.
That’s a bold claim, especially in context of running out of transport fuels starting from where we are now. What date range are you using for the period over which cars became pervasive?