Internet Roadtrip
{{Short description|Social experiment by Neal Agarwal}}{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox website
| name = Internet Roadtrip
| logo = Internet Roadtrip cover.svg
| creator = Neal Agarwal
| url = {{URL|https://neal.fun/internet-roadtrip/}}
| launched = May 6, 2025
| current_status = Active
}}
Internet Roadtrip is a social experiment where players collectively navigate a virtual car by voting on which direction to go in, or to either honk or change the radio. The concept was developed by Neal Agarwal and launched on May 6, 2025, on his website, neal.fun.
Overview
Inspired by Twitch Plays Pokémon and r/place, the experiment features a virtual car navigating the world via Google Street View, where people participate by voting for the next direction to go in every 10 seconds, but can also instead vote to either honk the horn by interacting with the steering wheel, or seek to switch stations on the built-in radio, which are grabbed from internet streams around the current location. The vehicle travels at approximately {{convert|3|mph|km/h|sigfig=2|abbr=on}}. Where the car is driven is actively tracked and marked with a red line on a mini-map present in the bottom left corner.{{cite news |last1=Gault |first1=Matthew |title=900 People Are Collectively Driving an 'Internet Roadtrip' on Google Street View |url=https://www.404media.co/900-people-are-collectively-driving-an-internet-roadtrip-on-google-street-view/ |access-date=16 May 2025 |work=404 Media |date=12 May 2025 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Phillips |first1=Tom |title=Internet Roadtrip is Twitch Plays Pokémon meets Google Maps, from the creator of Infinite Craft |url=https://www.eurogamer.net/internet-roadtrip-is-twitch-plays-pokemon-meets-google-maps-from-the-creator-of-infinite-craft |work=Eurogamer |date=15 May 2025 |language=en |access-date=16 May 2025}}{{cite news |last1=Evans-Thirlwell |first1=Edwin |title=Get in the car, loser, we're going on an Internet Roadtrip with a thousand backseat drivers |url=https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/get-in-the-car-loser-were-going-on-an-internet-roadtrip-with-a-thousand-backseat-drivers |access-date=16 May 2025 |work=Rock Paper Shotgun |date=15 May 2025 |language=en}}
The experiment began on May 6, 2025, beginning in Boston, Massachusetts. With the introduction of the experiment's Discord server a while later, with one of its channels being relayed on the website, participants began communicating with others on where to go, with general consensus being to navigate into Canada through the border, a goal that would later be accomplished.{{cite news |last1=Olivetti |first1=Justin |title=Internet Road Trip invites you to pile into a virtual car with hundreds of opinionated drivers |url=https://massivelyop.com/2025/05/30/internet-road-trip-invites-you-to-pile-into-a-virtual-car-with-hundreds-of-opinionated-drivers/ |access-date=31 May 2025 |work=Massively Overpowered |date=30 May 2025}} Due to the limitations of Google Street View coverage, players are restricted to a section of North America, with Alaska and a few other regions out of range due to gaps in the coverage.{{cite news |last1=Corrigan |first1=Hope |title=Grab 900 of your closest internet strangers and hit the road, online |url=https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/grab-900-of-your-closest-internet-strangers-and-hit-the-road-online/ |access-date=16 May 2025 |work=PC Gamer |date=14 May 2025 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Silberling |first1=Amanda |title=Thousands of people have embarked on a virtual road trip via Google Street View |url=https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/16/thousands-of-people-have-embarked-on-a-virtual-road-trip-via-google-street-view/ |access-date=17 May 2025 |work=TechCrunch |date=16 May 2025}} Edwin Evans-Thirlwell of Rock Paper Shotgun commented on debates that occurred within the community, believing that the chat may "become a trash fire at some stage."
The experiment notably caught the attention of both student-run radio stations WMUA in Amherst, Massachusetts, and WBOR in Brunswick, Maine, as participants passed through their respective coverage areas. One of the players called into WMUA to share the project with the DJs, with one of them commenting, "this is so cool". WBOR shouted out and partook in the experiment by allowing participants to curate songs.{{cite news |last1=Carpenter |first1=Nicole |title=I'm Actually Getting Car Sick on The Internet Road Trip |url=https://aftermath.site/internet-roadtrip-take-me-to-canada |access-date=17 May 2025 |work=Aftermath |date=15 May 2025 |language=en}} The radio manager, Mason Daugherty, reported the station's digital viewership had increased by 100 times, prompting tweaks to increase the servers' capacity.{{cite news |last1=Ryan |first1=Aidan |title=How an imaginary roadtrip through Maine drove real traffic to Bowdoin's student radio station |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/05/25/business/internet-roadtrip-game-bowdoin-radio-wbor/ |access-date=25 May 2025 |work=The Boston Globe |date=25 May 2025}} It has also gotten shoutouts from other radio stations including multiple from CFEP-FM based in Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia.{{Cite web |title=Instagram |url=https://www.instagram.com/seasidefm105.9/p/DKxJAzRRPHl/ |access-date=2025-06-12 |website=www.instagram.com}}{{Primary source inline|date=June 2025}}