AI-Powered Virtual "Roadtrips" Help Young People Discover Career Possibilities, Gain Confidence

A new white paper from researchers at the University of California, Irvine shows promising results from a pilot of Roadtrip Nation's Virtual Roadtrip tool, funded in part by American Student Assistance® (ASA)

BOSTON, July 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Between rising costs, slowing wages, and rapid advances in technology, today's students have a lot to grapple with when planning for their futures. At the same time, counselors and educators are stretched to maximum capacity—leaving many students feeling like they have to navigate their educational and career journeys on their own.

A new white paper authored by researchers at the University of California, Irvine's Design and Partnership Lab (UCI Daplab) and career exploration nonprofit Roadtrip Nation—and funded in part by American Student Assistance® (ASA), a national nonprofit changing the way kids learn about careers and prepare for their futures—suggests that Roadtrip Nation's Virtual Roadtrip tool effectively leverages artificial technology to positively impact how young people discover and engage with career paths.

The Virtual Roadtrip is an AI-powered experience that takes learners on a digital "road trip" to navigate their future careers and educational pathways in a customized and accessible way. The online resource uses an "AI guide" to ask learners about their goals and interests, then matches them with hyper-personalized real-life stories, advice, educational paths, and careers, incorporating Roadtrip Nation's 13,600-video library of interviews with professionals from all walks of life.

Through a multi-year funding partnership with ASA—and additional funding from Strada Education Foundation—Roadtrip Nation was able to launch a large-scale pilot of the Virtual Roadtrip in schools across the country in 2024. As part of the pilot program, Roadtrip Nation also partnered with the UCI Daplab—an affiliate of UCI's Connected Learning Lab—to design an exploratory evaluation of the impacts the Virtual Roadtrip might have on young people's developing sense of career interests.

The resulting white paper, "The Influence of AI-Assisted Virtual Roadtrips on Facets of Students' Career Identity," shares key insights and positive findings from the pilot of the Virtual Roadtrip, and also provides recommendations for future use cases and iterations, as the tool remains in development.

"Far too many kids are graduating high school without knowing what comes next. In fact, research tells us that more than 65 percent of students feel they would have benefited from more career exploration in middle or high school. Through ASA's innovative and strategic partnership with Roadtrip Nation to create this unique AI-powered Virtual Roadtrip, young people will have access to a vast library of personalized, searchable, immersive career-connected learning content. Having access to this invaluable digital resource will equip many more young people with the information they need to make informed, confident choices and navigate their own path to success after high school," said Judy Goldstein, SVP, Marketing and Communications, ASA.

Approximately 2,900 students from 45 schools participated in the pilot of the Virtual Roadtrip, and survey data was collected from 488 students. Roughly 16% of participants were in middle school, 55% in high school, 17% in community college, and 12% were in university settings.

Some of the findings highlighted within the white paper include students reporting an increased sense of confidence and interest in career exploration after engaging with the Virtual Roadtrip. Students saw a 12.6 percent growth in feeling a sense of expanded career options, and a 12.2 percent growth in their confidence in being able to reach their future career goals. Anecdotally, some students also mentioned increased feelings of personal growth and reduced anxieties about the future.

The white paper also highlights how students candidly shared their interests, hopes, fears, obstacles and challenges with the Virtual Roadtrip's AI guide. With student-to-counselor ratios averaging 376:1 nationally—far above the recommended maximum of 250:1—the white paper suggests the Virtual Roadtrip could help bridge those gaps by equipping invested adults to better cater their support for young people. For example, the nuanced responses shared with the AI guide could help counselors or educators provide resources that best fit the unique experiences of today's students.

"For over 20 years, Roadtrip Nation has been sending young people on deeply impactful road trips to explore career possibilities," said Roadtrip Nation's CEO Mike Marriner. "Through the Virtual Roadtrip, we'll be able to leverage AI to effectively scale that experience and impact, with the goal of making career exploration more accessible and personalized to each individual learner. Undertaking this research-driven pilot project with ASA and UCI Daplab—and seeing proven, positive results—is incredibly promising for the future of this tool."

Read the full white paper to explore more key findings.

About American Student Assistance® (ASA) 
American Student Assistance® (ASA) is a national nonprofit at the forefront of changing the way kids learn about careers and prepare for their futures through access to career readiness information and experiences for all. ASA helps middle and high school students to know themselves—their strengths and their interests—and understand their education and career options so that they can make informed decisions. ASA fulfills its mission–in schools and beyond the classroom–by providing free digital experiences, including Futurescape®, Next Voice™, and EvolveMe®, directly to millions of students, and through advocacy, impact investing, research, thought leadership, and philanthropic support for educators, intermediaries, and others. ASA fosters a generation of confident, crisis-proof young people who are ready for whatever path comes next after high school. To learn more about ASA, visit www.asa.org/about-asa.

About Roadtrip Nation
Roadtrip Nation humanizes career exploration through story and empowers individuals to connect their interests to fulfilling lives and careers. Through its award-winning public television series, New York Times bestselling book "Roadmap," and educational programs and tools that provide visibility and insights into career possibilities and pathways, Roadtrip Nation gives people from all backgrounds confidence and belief in their ability to persist through challenges and define success for themselves. Roadtrip Nation, a part of Strada Collaborative, has been showcased at the United Nations Social Innovation Summit, Clinton Global Initiative, NBC Education Nation, TEDx, Talks at Google, SXSW, and the Harvard Social Enterprise Forum, and their programs currently reach over 16 million students each year. For more information, visit roadtripnation.com.

SOURCE American Student Assistance (ASA)