THE DRIVING FLY / PRESS KIT

A very small driver.
A rather good story.

Films, facts and a fly at the wheel.
Everything you need to cover the experiment.

Download press kit Contact MarkStills, logos, notes & data · Updated
A green Mini reverses across a marked road, with the fly body and computed neural activity shown alongside. Watch the complete turn 22.8 seconds
A complete recorded attempt. A simulated car, a simulated body, and a model built from measured connections.
THE STORY

Teaching a fly to drive.
One small skill at a time.

A neural model built from a fruit fly’s measured brain connections learns to operate a simulated body at the wheel of a car.

The Driving Fly is an independent experiment by Mark Unthank at Really Nice. It uses measured fruit-fly neural connectivity as the structure for a trained model, connects that model to a simulated fly body, and uses the body’s measured controls to drive a Mini in CARLA. The project documents steering, indicators, horn use, parking attempts and three-point turns through films and open results. Current tasks use structured inputs or scripted requests, with engineered motor assistance; they do not demonstrate driving from vision. Sponsorship placements on the virtual Mini help fund the experiment. The code project is also known as Flyhard.

Download project background & facts
Project
The Driving Fly / Flyhard
Created by
Mark Unthank · Really Nice
Model
165,122 traced MaleCNS neurons
Simulation
CARLA + MuJoCo / NeuroMechFly
Status
Independent experimental prototype
Funding
Sponsor placements on the virtual Mini
ABOUT MARK

Mark Unthank

He quit a $500k/year AI job to build Really Nice.

Mark Unthank is the founder of Really Nice and the creator of The Driving Fly.

Before starting Really Nice, he worked as a founding design engineer at an AI startup.

The Driving Fly is the kind of project he wants to make in public: a strange, ambitious experiment with the evidence left in. The films show the wins, the failures and the next problem to solve.

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FOR ACCURATE COVERAGE

What the experiments show.

Read the field notes
6 / 8

Three-point turns passed

All eight held-out cases turned without contact or boundary crossings. Two missed the stopping-position target. The featured film is a separate successful validation take.

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0 / 50

Successful parks

The parking benchmark remains unpassed. Ten learned-core trials had collision flags, including virtual-curb or vehicle-bound overlap. Every trial is retained in the data.

Download trial data
One honk.

And a few imperfections

The fly presses a physical horn button. The dynamic film keeps a false empty-road chirp; the road-rage film keeps its collision. Traffic, route and speed are directed.

Download horn notes

A model of connections, with engineered help.

The model retains 165,122 traced neurons from MaleCNS; this filtered set differs from the published full census. Its dynamics, sensory mapping and motor assistance are engineered. Current tasks use structured geometry or scripted requests, not camera-based perception. Neural colours show computed model states. These films demonstrate scoped simulated control skills, not a recreated fly mind or general autonomous driving.

Most body and road views share a recorded clock. In the parking montage, the side-panel fly is an explicitly labelled independent replay. Sponsor graphics and the cabin fly are composited; the footage does not establish a completed native Unreal vehicle import.

The next step is to train it up and put it through a driving test in the simulator.

— Mark Unthank, creator of The Driving Fly
SHARED BY MARK

The story has travelled.

The launch and indicator films have reached 4M combined views.

WATCH THE EVIDENCE

The experiments, in motion.

Play the latest recordings here, then read the full notes.

Download all video transcripts
Transcript and audio description. Sound: Boccherini. The full successful validation take plays once, without skipping ahead: 20.3 seconds of driving, followed by a short hold on the finish. The fly chooses steering, speed and gear from structured road and goal geometry. Fixed motor helpers move its legs; the measured wheel, pedals and selector operate CARLA. This take finishes 25.4 cm from its target and 0.755° from the intended heading, with no collision. In eight separate held-out tests, six met the full stopping target. All eight completed the forward–reverse–forward sequence without contact or crossing the marked road boundary; two stopped just outside the position tolerance. These are small, scoped tests. There is no camera-based road understanding, and the model is an engineering interpretation of measured fly connectivity. Boccherini’s Minuet and Trio accompanies the complete attempt.
Transcript & audio description

Sound: Boccherini.

The full successful validation take plays once, without skipping ahead: 20.3 seconds of driving, followed by a short hold on the finish. The fly chooses steering, speed and gear from structured road and goal geometry. Fixed motor helpers move its legs; the measured wheel, pedals and selector operate CARLA.

This take finishes 25.4 cm from its target and 0.755° from the intended heading, with no collision. In eight separate held-out tests, six met the full stopping target. All eight completed the forward–reverse–forward sequence without contact or crossing the marked road boundary; two stopped just outside the position tolerance.

These are small, scoped tests. There is no camera-based road understanding, and the model is an engineering interpretation of measured fly connectivity. Boccherini’s Minuet and Trio accompanies the complete attempt.

Three-point turn · 22.8 seconds

A little change of direction.

Forward. Reverse. Forward. One complete attempt, with time to finish.

Transcript and audio description. Sound: Recorded car horn. The fly passes one car, collides with the next, and keeps holding the horn as a third joins the pile-up. Interior cuts show the recorded foreleg movement operating the button. The real horn recording is timed to measured button presses. This is a failed take, kept because the failure is part of the experiment. The source travelled 60.04 metres and produced two horn onsets, missing the test’s required 90 metres and three onsets. Its longest physical press lasted 16 seconds. The impacts and continuing hold remain in the edit; four seconds of waiting are removed. Traffic, route, speed and erratic steering requests are directed. The model supplies the measured wheel and horn actuation. The cabin fly is composited from the same recorded body motion; this is not a demonstration of autonomous driving.
Transcript & audio description

Sound: Recorded car horn.

The fly passes one car, collides with the next, and keeps holding the horn as a third joins the pile-up. Interior cuts show the recorded foreleg movement operating the button. The real horn recording is timed to measured button presses.

This is a failed take, kept because the failure is part of the experiment. The source travelled 60.04 metres and produced two horn onsets, missing the test’s required 90 metres and three onsets. Its longest physical press lasted 16 seconds. The impacts and continuing hold remain in the edit; four seconds of waiting are removed.

Traffic, route, speed and erratic steering requests are directed. The model supplies the measured wheel and horn actuation. The cabin fly is composited from the same recorded body motion; this is not a demonstration of autonomous driving.

Horn experiment · 20 seconds

Small fly. Big feelings.

Three cars, a very long honk, and an actual pile-up.

Transcript and audio description. Sound: Recorded car horn. Cars arrive at the lights, wait, and pull away. The fly honks 0.117 seconds after the light turns green behind a waiting car. It drives through an already-green light quietly, then meets cars pulling out at a T-junction and a crossroads. Interior shots show it holding the horn. The empty-road scene includes a brief, 83-millisecond false chirp. We kept it. None of these five source takes recorded an ego-vehicle collision, but a separate ten-case structured diagnostic passed only three of four positive horn cases and all six quiet cases. That small diagnostic does not guarantee quiet driving in CARLA. The learned controller operates the fly’s forelegs and physical horn button using structured inputs. Approaches, traffic, route and speed remain directed. The cabin body is a synchronized composite, and the recorded horn sound follows measured button contact.
Transcript & audio description

Sound: Recorded car horn.

Cars arrive at the lights, wait, and pull away. The fly honks 0.117 seconds after the light turns green behind a waiting car. It drives through an already-green light quietly, then meets cars pulling out at a T-junction and a crossroads. Interior shots show it holding the horn.

The empty-road scene includes a brief, 83-millisecond false chirp. We kept it. None of these five source takes recorded an ego-vehicle collision, but a separate ten-case structured diagnostic passed only three of four positive horn cases and all six quiet cases. That small diagnostic does not guarantee quiet driving in CARLA.

The learned controller operates the fly’s forelegs and physical horn button using structured inputs. Approaches, traffic, route and speed remain directed. The cabin body is a synchronized composite, and the recorded horn sound follows measured button contact.

Horn experiment · 37.5 seconds

Green means go. Apparently.

Moving traffic, two inconvenient pull-outs, and a foreleg on the horn.

Transcript and audio description. Sound: Mozart. The edit builds to 32 views by 6.4 seconds, then jumps between individual attempts and the grid. All 50 trials appear as excerpts. The grid footage runs at 6× speed; the fly alongside is a separately looped replay, labelled in the film, and is not synchronized to each car. The result is 0/50 successful parks, with collision flags in ten trials. Resetting the learned core also produces 0/50, with twelve flagged trials. Flags include virtual-curb and vehicle-bound overlap as well as native collisions; they are not a count of individual crashes. The policy chooses steering, speed and gear from structured relative geometry, with fixed motor helpers moving the body. The measured controls drive CARLA. Lower final-position error than the reset comparison is useful evidence, but it does not establish successful parking. The original sponsor snapshot is preserved.
Transcript & audio description

Sound: Mozart.

The edit builds to 32 views by 6.4 seconds, then jumps between individual attempts and the grid. All 50 trials appear as excerpts. The grid footage runs at 6× speed; the fly alongside is a separately looped replay, labelled in the film, and is not synchronized to each car.

The result is 0/50 successful parks, with collision flags in ten trials. Resetting the learned core also produces 0/50, with twelve flagged trials. Flags include virtual-curb and vehicle-bound overlap as well as native collisions; they are not a count of individual crashes.

The policy chooses steering, speed and gear from structured relative geometry, with fixed motor helpers moving the body. The measured controls drive CARLA. Lower final-position error than the reset comparison is useful evidence, but it does not establish successful parking. The original sponsor snapshot is preserved.

Parking experiment · 30 seconds

Fifty ways to miss a parking space.

Mozart, fifty attempts, and a parking test that remains very much unpassed.

Transcript and audio description. Sound: Silent. A new close-up edit of the recorded roundabout sequence follows the fly pulling the indicator stalk, the Mini’s native bumper lamp flashing, and the stalk returning as the signal switches off. The saved body motion and vehicle poses are replayed for this 60 fps slow-motion presentation. Navigation and speed remain engineered inputs. This is an inspection of the recorded control sequence, not a newly learned road-navigation result.
Transcript & audio description

Sound: Silent.

A new close-up edit of the recorded roundabout sequence follows the fly pulling the indicator stalk, the Mini’s native bumper lamp flashing, and the stalk returning as the signal switches off.

The saved body motion and vehicle poses are replayed for this 60 fps slow-motion presentation. Navigation and speed remain engineered inputs. This is an inspection of the recorded control sequence, not a newly learned road-navigation result.

Indicator experiment · 25 seconds

A small indication of progress.

A closer look at the stalk, the flashing lamp, and the cancellation.

A CLOSER LOOK

Stills for your story.

1920 × 1080 JPGs. Captions and credits included in the kit.

The Mini reverses during the complete successful validation take. The model state and simulated body appear alongside the road view.

The three-point turn

The Mini reverses during the complete successful validation take. The model state and simulated body appear alongside the road view.

Download JPG
The fly’s recorded body motion composited into the CARLA cabin during a physical horn press.

Behind the wheel

The fly’s recorded body motion composited into the CARLA cabin during a physical horn press.

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A failed take retains the real pile-up and continuing horn press. Traffic and steering requests are directed.

The road-rage experiment

A failed take retains the real pile-up and continuing horn press. Traffic and steering requests are directed.

Download JPG
Edited excerpts of the parking benchmark. No trial passed; the fly panel is an independent replay, not synchronized to each car.

Fifty parking attempts

Edited excerpts of the parking benchmark. No trial passed; the fly panel is an independent replay, not synchronized to each car.

Download JPG
THE NAME & THE MARK

The Driving Fly.

The public project name. “Flyhard” is the code project.

CREDITS & SOURCES

A little credit goes a long way.

Suggested project credit: “The Driving Fly / Mark Unthank — thedrivingfly.com”. Third-party data, imagery, music and sponsor marks retain their own terms. Preserve the relevant credits when reusing material; contact Mark for original exports or other uses.

Project & images

The Driving Fly / Mark Unthank. Credit the project and link to thedrivingfly.com when covering these experiments. Sponsor logos remain the property of their owners.

Source & details

Measured connectivity

MaleCNS collaboration: HHMI Janelia FlyEM, University of Cambridge, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Google Research. Data: CC BY 4.0. The trained model uses engineered dynamics; its displayed activity is computed, not a recording of biological spikes.

Source & details

Body & vehicle

NeuroMechFly / FlyGym (EPFL), Apache 2.0; CARLA 0.9.16 vehicle assets, CVC / Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, CC BY. Sponsor surfaces and the cabin fly are composited for the films. No endorsement by these projects, MINI or BMW is implied.

Source & details

Three-point-turn music

Boccherini, Minuet and Trio from String Quintet in E major, Op. 11 No. 5, G. 275. Recording: Rafael Krux, via FreePD / Wikimedia Commons; CC0 1.0. Excerpt with fades.

Source & details

Parking music

Mozart, Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525: I. Allegro. Musopen European Archive recording, identified as public domain by Wikimedia Commons; performing ensemble unspecified. Edited excerpt.

Source & details

Horn recording

05 Horn.wav by 15HPanska_Ruttner_Jan, CC0 1.0. The recording is cropped, looped and faded to follow measured horn-button presses.

Source & details
Download all credits
PRESS CONTACT

Talk to the person teaching the fly.

Mark Unthank · Creator, The Driving Fly / Really Nice

mark@reallynice.company
Explore the source
Press kit — The Driving Fly