Curiosity can roll over obstacles approaching in height, and it has a ground clearance of . Based on variables including power levels, terrain difficulty, slippage and visibility, the maximum terrain-traverse speed is estimated to be per day by automatic navigation. The rover landed about from the base of Mount Sharp, (officially named Aeolis Mons) and it is expected to traverse a minimum of during its primary two-year mission. It can travel up to per hour but average speed is about per hour. The vehicle is 'driven' by several operators led by Vandi Verma, group leader of Autonomous Systems, Mobility and Robotic Systems at JPL, who also cowrote the PLEXIL language used to operate the rover.