What automated vehicle did Leonardo da Vinci design that could move without a person inside?

Leonardo da Vinci designed a self-propelled cart that could move without a person inside.

The cart appears in drawings from the late fifteenth century and is powered by coiled springs hidden inside its body. Cams on the wheels controlled the movement, allowing the machine to follow a preset path rather than respond to a driver or external controls.

The vehicle may have been intended for theatrical performances at court, where an apparently moving object could create a dramatic effect. It was not an automobile in the modern sense: it carried no engine, fuel system, steering wheel, or means of independent navigation.

Reconstructions have shown that the mechanism can operate when built from the surviving drawings, although scholars debate details of its exact construction. The cart is also called Leonardo’s automobile, but “self-propelled cart” more precisely describes the spring-powered machine.