What wheeled machine did Leonardo da Vinci design to move under its own power?

Leonardo da Vinci’s wheeled machine designed to move under its own power was a self-propelled cart.

Leonardo sketched the mechanism in the late fifteenth century, probably around 1478–1480. Springs wound inside drums supplied the energy, while carefully arranged gears transferred that energy to the wheels. A programmable steering system, using pegs on a wheel, could make the cart follow a predetermined path.

The machine was not an automobile in the modern sense. It had no combustion engine, battery, or driver’s controls. Its stored spring energy was limited, and its likely uses were demonstrations, theatrical effects, or court entertainment. The design nevertheless shows Leonardo combining mechanical power, gearing, and simple programming.

A full-scale reconstruction was built in the early twenty-first century by Italian researchers and engineers. The cart is also sometimes associated with stage machinery used at Renaissance courts. Its importance lies less in practical transport than in its early use of autonomous movement and programmable control.