Overview
- JPL used generative vision-language models to propose waypoint routes that Perseverance executed on Dec. 8 and Dec. 10, 2025.
- The rover drove 210 meters and 246 meters on those sols, marking the first AI-planned drives carried out on another planet.
- Engineers validated the AI-generated commands in JPL’s digital twin, checking more than 500,000 telemetry variables for safety and software compatibility.
- The planning effort, coordinated from JPL’s Rover Operations Center, leveraged Anthropic’s Claude models and analyzed HiRISE imagery with digital elevation data.
- Mission leaders say the approach can reduce route-planning workload and enable longer traverses, building on Perseverance’s largely autonomous driving capability.