  We consider a finite one-dimensional chain of quantum rotors interacting with
a set of thermal baths at different temperatures. When the interaction between
the rotors is made chiral, such a system behaves as an autonomous thermal
motor, converting heat currents into non-vanishing rotational ones. Such a
dynamical response is strongly pronounced in the range of the Hamiltonian
parameters for which the ground state of the system in the thermodynamic limit
exhibits a quantum phase transition. Such working points are associated with
large quantum coherence and multipartite quantum correlations within the state
of the system. This suggests that the optimal operating regime of such quantum
autonomous motor is one of maximal quantumness.
