NASA reported that Perseverance completed two drives on December 8 and 10, 2025, using waypoints generated with artificial intelligence. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory team worked with Anthropic's Claude models to analyse orbital imagery and terrain data, producing routes that could be transmitted to the rover.
Before transmission, engineers checked the drive commands with JPL's digital twin of Perseverance, verifying more than 500,000 telemetry variables. The demonstration used AI to assist ground-based route planning while retaining engineering validation. NASA described longer rover drives with less operator workload as a potential future application of these tools.
Source & further reading
NASA’s Perseverance Rover Completes First AI-Planned Drive on Mars ↗Source published 2026-01-30. This report was prepared with AI assistance from the linked primary-source material. Claims and limitations should be checked against the original announcement or research.