Read maps and follow written or verbal geographic directions.

“Read maps and follow written or verbal geographic directions.” is a core task performed by Light Truck Drivers. Among the occupation's 14 rated tasks, workers place it 10th by importance (#5 most important). About 96% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Read documents or materials to inform work processes. in Getting Information
• Communicate with others about operational plans or activities. in Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E2. Exposure with tools — software built on top of a language model (not the model alone) could cut the time by at least half.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.50. Automation potential label: T3.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Obey traffic laws and follow established traffic and transportation procedures. · importance 4.8
• Report any mechanical problems encountered with vehicles. · importance 4.8
• Verify the contents of inventory loads against shipping papers. · importance 4.8
• Inspect and maintain vehicle supplies and equipment, such as gas, oil, water, tires, lights, or brakes, to ensure that vehicles are in proper working condition. · importance 4.7
• Turn in receipts and money received from deliveries. · importance 4.7
• Load and unload trucks, vans, or automobiles. · importance 4.6
• Present bills and receipts and collect payments for goods delivered or loaded. · importance 4.5
• Maintain records, such as vehicle logs, records of cargo, or billing statements, in accordance with regulations. · importance 4.4
• Drive vehicles with capacities under three tons to transport materials to and from specified destinations, such as railroad stations, plants, residences, offices, or within industrial yards. · importance 4.0
• Use and maintain the tools or equipment found on commercial vehicles, such as weighing or measuring devices. · importance 4.0
• Report delays, accidents, or other traffic and transportation situations to bases or other vehicles, using telephones or mobile two-way radios. · importance 3.7
• Perform emergency repairs, such as changing tires or installing light bulbs, fuses, tire chains, or spark plugs. · importance 3.6
• Sell products from truck inventory and keep records of sales.

See all tasks on the Light Truck Drivers page.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-task-8623,
  title  = {Read maps and follow written or verbal geographic directions.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-8623}
}