What vehicle did Leonardo da Vinci sketch with four wheels, steering, and a spring-powered mechanism?

Leonardo da Vinci sketched a self-propelled cart driven by coiled springs.

The cart appears in drawings from around 1478 to 1480 and is often described as an early ancestor of the automobile. Two large springs stored mechanical energy, while a system of gears transferred that energy to the wheels. A steering mechanism allowed the vehicle to follow a programmed route rather than simply travel straight ahead.

The design was probably intended for theatrical use, court celebrations, or stage effects rather than transportation. Its compact body could move without a visible animal or person pushing it, making it useful as a spectacular mechanical display. Modern reconstructions have been built from Leonardo’s drawings, though historians still debate some details of the original mechanism.

The cart is sometimes called Leonardo’s automobile, but that label can mislead. It had no engine, fuel system, or passenger cabin in the modern automotive sense. Its importance lies in combining stored energy, gearing, wheels, and steering in a remarkably early machine design.