What vehicle did Leonardo da Vinci design to move under its own power without animals?

Leonardo da Vinci designed a self-propelled cart intended to move without animals.

The machine, sketched in the late 15th century, used springs to store mechanical energy. Gears and control mechanisms transferred that energy to the wheels, allowing the cart to travel for a limited distance. The design may have been intended for theatrical performances or court festivities rather than transportation or warfare.

Leonardo’s drawings do not provide every detail needed to determine exactly how the completed machine would have been operated. Modern reconstructions have shown that a working interpretation is possible, although reconstructions necessarily make choices where the surviving sketches are incomplete.

The cart is sometimes called an early automobile, but it had no engine in the modern sense and carried only stored spring energy. It is more accurately described as a self-propelled mechanical cart, separate from Leonardo’s humanoid mechanical knight.