I asked Grok about the car wash. Gonna have to come up with a new way to
confuse it. The answer it gave was clear, aware, and concise.
Drive — assuming you're asking because you want your car cleaned at the car
wash.The whole point is to get the vehicle to the washing equipment
(whether it's an automatic tunnel, self-serve bays, or hand wash). Walking
there leaves your car at home dirty, so you'd have no way to actually get
it cleaned unless you're planning something creative like pushing it,
towing it, or having someone else drive it (which defeats the question).This
question has become a bit of a viral "AI test" recently because some
language models miss the obvious intent and suggest walking for exercise,
fuel savings, or eco reasons — completely overlooking that the car itself
needs to make the trip. Humans usually get it instantly: you drive the car
there.That said, if the car wash is extremely close (like 50–200 meters /
150–600 feet away) and other factors apply, here are the real decision
points people actually debate:
- Drive if:
- You need the car washed (the default assumption).
- Weather is bad (rain, snow, extreme heat/cold — no fun walking back
wet or freezing).
- You're in a hurry or have stuff to carry (wallet, phone, kids,
etc.).
- You plan to use the car right after (no waiting around or extra
walking).
- Walk only if (and this is rare):
- You're going to a self-serve bay and somehow don't need your own
car there (doesn't make sense for "get my car cleaned").
- Or you're literally just going to observe/buy something at the car
wash facility, not to wash your vehicle.
Bottom line: Unless your question is a trick/puzzle or the car wash is
literally in your driveway, start the car and drive over. It's the only
practical way to achieve the goal. [image: 🚗][image: 🧼]If the distance is
super short, some people joke it's barely worth warming up the engine — but
you still have to move the car somehow. What's the actual distance in your
case, or any other details (weather, type of wash)? That could tweak the
vibe. [image: 😄]
On Thu, Mar 19, 2026 at 8:29 AM Michael Quigley <MichaelQuigley@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Hallucinating or coming to bizarre conclusions is common with so-called
"Artificial Intelligence." There's nothing intelligence about it. It's
simply pattern recognition and data analysis. Yes, at a very fast and high
level. It lacks general intelligence and simple common sense.
My favorite example is the car wash test
https://cybernews.com/ai-news/ai-car-wash-test/ where he asks if he
should walk or drive to the car wash. To a human, the answer is obvious,
but "AI" struggles with the crux of the question.
midrange.com
