Summer is winding down, and you could use a vacation—we’re sure of it. But with air travel a disaster on nearly every level right now, getting on a plane would probably not make for a relaxing break. How about a road trip? You’ll have more control over your timing and the actual trip. But if planning an itinerary seems too stressful, you can turn that part over to AI.
CarMax decided to go that route by surveying over 1,000 people about their idea of the perfect road trip; it then put that information into an AI system called Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3. Out came eight road-trip plans: an overall one, a couples trip, a cross-country route, a coastal one, a path for foodies, a perfect trip for summer, something scenic, and a visit to national monuments.
The majority of those who responded to CarMax’s survey would rather go on an AI-designed road trip (72.2%) than a human-created one (27.8%). And honestly, the AI did come up with some great ideas. For an unthemed road trip, it suggested hitting up the West Coast, going through San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, Phoenix, San Diego, and Santa Monica. Humans given the same task suggested a path through Chicago, St. Louis, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, Flagstaff, and Santa Monica.
People also found that AI came up with better road trip ideas for couples (65.2%), cross-country trips (59.7%), coastal ones (59%), and ones for foodies (50.7%). Human-planned road trips won out in areas that depended a bit more on human perception, such as scenic trips (only 44.2% preferred the AI-created ones) and visiting national monuments (AI trips got just 41.1% of votes, since they didn’t include natural landmarks).
If you’re ready to follow the open road, you can set off after following these very sensible AI packing suggestions: a camera (or phone with a good camera), sunglasses, a navigation app, a phone charger, a good pair of shoes, hand sanitizer, sunscreen, a reusable water bottle, a first-aid kit, a sweater or sweatshirt, hand wipes, zip-close bags for a variety of uses, a raincoat or umbrella, toilet paper, lip balm, a sleeping bag or blanket, a paper map, a notebook and writing implement, and a hat.
