The famous drawing presenting a self-propelled cart is actually a complex system for an automata, a theatrical stage effect.

In Spring 2004, the Leonardo3 research center of Milan retraced together with Paolo Galluzzi (Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza in Florence) and Carlo Pedretti (a vincian scholar) the various interpretations resulting in the construction of the first working model of the so-called automobile.