Drive assembly for actuating wheels of vehicles, particularly carriages for handling and conveying materials

A drive assembly for actuating wheels of vehicles, particularly carriages for handling and conveying materials, comprising a motor (2) having a substantially vertical driving shaft (3), a unit (4) for reducing the rotation rate of a driven shaft (5), which is substantially parallel to the driving shaft (3), with respect to the rotation rate of the driving shaft (3), and an angle drive (6), which is suitable to transmit the motion from the driven shaft (5) to a shaft (7) which is substantially perpendicular thereto for fixing a wheel (8) of a vehicle, and a braking device (9), which acts on the driving shaft (3) and is interposed between the motor (2) and the reduction unit (4).