Overview
- Perseverance executed AI-planned traverses on Dec. 8 and Dec. 10, 2025, covering 689 feet (210 meters) and 807 feet (246 meters) in Jezero Crater.
- Anthropic’s Claude vision-language models analyzed HiRISE orbital imagery and terrain-slope data to propose continuous routes with waypoints.
- Engineers reviewed and made minor edits to the AI plan, verified over 500,000 telemetry variables in JPL’s digital twin, and converted commands into Rover Markup Language.
- Annotated imagery shows the AI route versus the rover’s actual path, with slight deviations likely from onboard AutoNav decisions within defined keep-in zones.
- NASA and JPL report significant reductions in route-planning workload, with work underway to fold AI-assisted planning into routine operations and enable longer drives.