{
  "id": 12692843,
  "title": "These Researchers Made AI Drive a Toyota Corolla to Get In-N-Out",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/07/these-researchers-made-ai-drive-a-toyota-corolla-to-get-in-n-out-12692843",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-10-07T18:45:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Wired Business",
    "slug": "wired-business",
    "url": "https://www.wired.com/story/ai-is-driving-cars-now-oh-boy/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A trio of researchers demonstrated that an AI model, OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra, could drive a 2024 Toyota Corolla at a Bay Area restaurant's drive-thru lane. Sitting inside the car, they connected a laptop to a server linked to cameras and the car's power steering system. A safety driver kept one foot on the brake in case of emergencies. The AI, typically used for generating text, code, and images, successfully navigated the vehicle up to the take-out window where they could collect their food. One engineer remarked, \"Maybe AGI is here after all,\" referring to artificial general intelligence, the idea of machines matching human intelligence. While not entirely surprising, given the model's ability to create complex 3D simulations, the fact that it could operate a real car without prior training hinted at a newfound understanding of the physical world. However, even with the model's advances, driving a real car remains a challenging task. The researchers' experiment suggests that physical reasoning, the ability to make sense of the real world, is still a frontier for AI. As the models' visual reasoning improves, they could gain new skills, like understanding diners' reactions in restaurants or making robots function in homes. This breakthrough, however, comes with risks. Self-driving cars are common, but they're typically operated by algorithms specifically trained for the task. The fact that a general-purpose model could drive a car suggests that language-based AI models are gaining a basic but useful understanding of the physical world, which could have both positive and dangerous implications.",
  "summary": "Three engineers put GPT, Claude, and Grok in charge of a real car. Only one of them was successful.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Wired",
        "title": "These Researchers Made AI Drive a Toyota Corolla to Get In-N-Out",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/07/these-researchers-made-ai-drive-a-toyota-corolla-to-get-in-n-out",
        "published": "2026-10-07T18:45:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}