What self-moving vehicle did Leonardo da Vinci design around 1478, often called the first car?

Leonardo da Vinci’s self-moving vehicle was a self-propelled cart.

Leonardo sketched the cart around 1478. It used coiled springs to store energy, while a system of gears controlled the release of that energy and the vehicle’s steering. The cart may have been intended for theatrical performances or court spectacles rather than transportation, because Renaissance courts often used mechanical effects to surprise audiences.

The machine is sometimes called the first automobile, but that description needs qualification. It had no engine in the modern sense, carried no passenger, and was designed to move only a limited distance. In 2006, researchers at the Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia in Milan built a full-scale reconstruction based on Leonardo’s drawings, confirming that the mechanism could work. The cart is therefore best described as an early programmable or self-propelled vehicle, not a modern car.