Perseverance rover sets new Mars driving distance record using autonomous navigation

In the coming week, NASA's Perseverance rover is set to break the record for the longest distance covered by a vehicle on another world, aiming to pass 45.16 km on the Martian surface. This milestone will replace the previous benchmark held by Opportunity, which stopped communicating in 2018 after traveling a shorter span.

While Earth-based autonomous cars benefit from clear maps and traffic signs, Perseverance must negotiate Martian hazards such as boulders and loose sand, though it faces no other traffic. Its twin, the Curiosity rover, launched nine years earlier and possessed similar imaging tools, but its older onboard computer limited autonomous driving to about 10 percent of its total 38.6 km covered to date.