What Renaissance vehicle did Leonardo da Vinci design to move without horses or an external driver?

Leonardo da Vinci designed a self-propelled cart to move without horses or an external driver.

Leonardo sketched the cart around 1478–1480, probably while working in Milan. Springs wound inside the vehicle supplied stored mechanical energy, while a system of gears transferred that energy to the wheels. The design is often described as an early ancestor of the automobile or robot.

The cart was not a modern engine-powered car. It had no gasoline engine, electric motor, or steering system in the usual modern sense. Its programmed motion came from carefully arranged gearing, and the available drawings do not answer every construction detail.

In 2006, an Italian team built a working model based on Leonardo’s drawings. The replica demonstrated that the mechanism could move, although historians still distinguish between what Leonardo clearly drew and what later builders had to reconstruct. The invention shows Leonardo’s interest in automation, theatrical machinery, and practical mechanics.