What was Leonardo da Vinci’s wheeled, self-moving cart designed to do?

Leonardo da Vinci’s wheeled, self-moving cart was designed to move without being pushed.

The cart is often called Leonardo’s self-propelled cart. Drawings from around 1478 show a three-wheeled vehicle powered by coiled springs. The springs were wound before operation, and their stored energy was released through a system of gears and mechanisms connected to the wheels.

The machine was probably intended for theatrical or ceremonial use rather than transportation. It may have been capable of following a programmed path, making it an early example of a mechanical automaton. Its exact operation remains partly uncertain because the surviving drawings do not provide a complete modern assembly manual.

A reconstruction built for a 2006 television program demonstrated that the concept could work. The cart is sometimes called the first automobile, but that description is anachronistic: it had no combustion engine and was designed on a much smaller scale.