Think of it this way: before the internal combustion engine people used animal power, steam power, human power, wind power, etc to move cargo, passengers, and even specialized loads like water pumps for the fire brigade. Then with internal combustion they did those things faster and at greater scale. That wasn't innovating on the ICE itself, or solving new problems. But it was still useful. Of course they also eventually did innovate on the ICE, and they solved new problems with it(heavier than air flight, for example) but it took awhile.
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Think of it this way: before the internal combustion engine people used animal power, steam power, human power, wind power, etc to move cargo, passengers, and even specialized loads like water pumps for the fire brigade. Then with internal combustion they did those things faster and at greater scale. That wasn't innovating on the ICE itself, or solving new problems. But it was still useful. Of course they also eventually did innovate on the ICE, and they solved new problems with it(heavier than air flight, for example) but it took awhile.