In 2019, rats drove handmade cars at the University of Richmond, steering left, right, or straight to reach Froot Loops in a complex test

Rats can already do a lot. They solve mazes. They read the faces of other rats. In 2019, a team of neuroscientists gave them a new job: driving. Researchers at the University of Richmond trained 17 rats to drive a small, hand-built car to the left, right, or straight ahead to earn a Froot Loop reward, in a study published in Behavioural Brain Research. The study notes that the goal was more than just a fun trick. The team wanted to push a rat’s brain to the limit with a truly complex task, and see what this might tell us about the brain more broadly. Lead scientist Kelly Lambert is a behavioral neuroscientist who has spent years studying stress and resilience in rodents. Her team wanted something harder than a simple lever press. Driving was the challenge, requiring motor control, spatial judgment, and timing all at once.

Building a car out of a cereal container

The “rodent-operated vehicle,” as the researchers called it, was refreshingly low tech. The University of Richmond’s own research release said the car was built from a clear plastic food container with an aluminum bottom and was placed on wheels. The steering wheel was three copper bars. When a rat placed its paws on the left, right, or center bar, it created an electrical connection that drove the car in that direction. They lifted their paws, and the car slowed. No app, no car company involved, just careful engineering, and 17 rats that learned to drive. During training, researchers dangled Froot Loops in front of the rats and rewarded them only when they steered in the right direction. As training progressed, the distance to the reward increased, requiring the rats to plan their steering rather than repeat a memorized pattern.

Home environment made a real difference

Not all rats were equally good drivers; that gap turned out to be one of the most interesting study findings. Some rats were housed in simple lab cages. Some lived in “enriched” cages filled with toys, ladders, and wood chips, more akin to what a rat would see in nature. The published research says the enriched-cage rats learned to drive faster and continued to show interest in the car even when no Froot Loop was waiting for them. That matches what scientists have long suspected: a stimulating environment can affect how flexibly an animal’s brain learns new skills.

Driving seemed to relax them

The team collected the rats’ feces to measure two hormones: corticosterone, a marker of stress, and dehydroepiandrosterone, a hormone that tends to counter stress and that in humans has been linked to a better mood. Training continued, and the ratio of these two hormones improved in both the enriched-cage and standard-cage rats, suggesting the effect tracked with the driving training itself, not just with a more stimulating home environment. It seemed to relieve their stress too. Lambert has linked this finding to a notion researchers call self-efficacy, a feeling of having real control over your own outcomes. People often feel that way after learning a new skill through practice. The results suggest that rats could have something like it.

The rats kept returning for more

In a 2024 essay for The Conversation, Lambert described a smaller, later test with just three of the original driving-trained rats: offering them a choice between a short walk directly to the Froot Loop or a longer drive in the car. Two out of three rats preferred to drive, although it took more time and effort. She also saw the rats running to their cars before the start of training sessions, like a dog getting excited at the sound of a leash. Lambert took that as a sign the rats weren’t just after the reward; that they seemed to enjoy driving for its own sake, though with only three rats involved and the drive still ending in a treat, it’s her interpretation of the behavior rather than a controlled finding.

Why this matters beyond the lab

That’s not to say rats think like people, and the researchers have been careful not to say that. What the findings do provide is a new way to look at how stress, environment and motivation interact in the brain. Lambert has said such complex tasks could help researchers better understand anxiety, depression and motor disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, in which both planning and movement go awry. For the moment, the picture is simpler and a little charming. Give a rat an interesting environment, a reachable goal, and some practice, and it may surprise you with how much it can learn and enjoy learning.