Engadget News + Next NASA used Claude to plot a route for Perseverance on Mars, Apple now lets you build a new Mac exactly the way you want, and Indonesia lifted its ban on Grok
Feb 2, 2026
NASA tested an AI chatbot to map a 400m route for the Perseverance rover, with JPL validating and editing the waypoints. Apple now lets buyers pick every spec when configuring a new Mac online. Indonesia lifted its ban on a chatbot under monitoring after concerns about deepfake creation.
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LLMs Can Plan Real Rover Drives
- NASA used Anthropic's Claude to plot a 400-meter route for Perseverance in Jezero crater.
- Engineers only made minor edits and estimate route planning time could be cut roughly in half.
Claude Trained On Rover Data Before Use
- NASA fed Claude years of contextual rover data and used Claude Code to generate waypoints.
- JPL engineers ran those waypoints through their daily simulation and double-checked the model before sending commands.
Human Oversight Remains Essential
- Human teams verified Claude's output in simulation and made small tweaks when ground-level images added context.
- The collaboration suggests autonomous AI could extend exploration reach for future probes.