What self-moving machine did Leonardo da Vinci design to create theatrical motion without a visible driver?

Leonardo da Vinci designed a self-propelled cart to create theatrical motion without a visible driver.

The cart appears in drawings from the late fifteenth century. Springs inside the mechanism stored energy, while a system of gears and cams transferred that energy to the wheels. A steering mechanism could be set in advance, allowing the cart to follow a predetermined path rather than being controlled by a person sitting inside it.

Leonardo may have intended the machine for court spectacles, where it could perform as an animated stage device. It was not an automobile in the modern sense: it had no engine, no fuel system, and no means of responding to changing conditions.

A full-scale reconstruction was built in Italy in 2006 and demonstrated that the basic mechanism could work. The cart is therefore best understood as a programmable mechanical device and an early example of a self-moving vehicle.