Usman Salis
⬤ Alibaba has unveiled MobilityBench, a benchmarking suite built to evaluate how well large language model agents handle real-world route planning. The dataset draws on 100,000 anonymized Amap queries collected across 22 countries, giving researchers a genuinely global testing ground. To keep results consistent, the framework uses a deterministic API-replay sandbox that locks in real traffic conditions, so agents aren't scored against a moving target every time they're tested.
⬤ The benchmark covers two main categories: information queries and route planning tasks. On the information side, that means point-of-interest lookups, traffic and weather checks, geolocation requests, and arrival or departure time estimates. Route planning tasks go from simple point-to-point trips all the way up to constrained multi-stop scenarios. Every task is modeled on actual user behavior, which is what makes this more than just a synthetic test. The API-replay sandbox caches responses from live production systems, so every agent runs against the same frozen data, eliminating noise from live traffic changes.
⬤ Evaluation goes beyond a single score. MobilityBench uses a five-pillar protocol covering instruction understanding, planning, tool use, decision making, and efficiency. Rather than relying on subjective judgment, it verifies executable correctness and checks that agent outputs are grounded in facts. That approach puts it in the same category as Alibaba's Qwen3-5-397B multimodal AI model, which also pushed the bar on measurable AI performance.
⬤ The launch fits into a larger wave of applied AI benchmarking efforts that focus on real-world reasoning and tool usage rather than theoretical capabilities. It gives developers and researchers a structured way to compare agents in navigation and planning contexts - areas where reliability actually matters. It also connects neatly to work like Alibaba's RTPurbo technology, which cut AI computing costs by 85%, showing the company is pushing on both performance and infrastructure fronts at the same time.
Usman Salis
