What was Leonardo da Vinci’s self-moving wooden vehicle designed to do without an animal pulling it?

Leonardo da Vinci’s self-moving wooden vehicle was designed to move autonomously without an animal pulling it.

The cart was drawn in Leonardo’s notebooks around 1478 to 1480. Springs hidden inside the vehicle supplied the stored energy, while programmed cams controlled the motion of the wheels. This made the design an early example of a self-propelled mechanical vehicle.

It is often described as a precursor to the automobile, although it had no engine, steering system, or modern road equipment. Leonardo probably intended it for theatrical performances or court spectacles rather than ordinary transportation.

A common confusion is to identify the cart as a robot in the modern electronic sense. It had no electricity or computer control. Its autonomous movement came from mechanical programming, a principle later used in automata, clocks, and stage machinery.