Sovereign AI - a holiday example
With family road-trip in progress, a worked example of Agentic and Sovereign AI to show the differences. The question isn't how AI can help, but rather whether it's working for you or for a vendor...
Following my last post on sovereign and agentic AI in retail, I’ve been asked for an example (sceptics!) and to what extent Sovereign AI is needed when ‘common or garden’ agentic is at our digital doorsteps. Never one to duck a question from my reader here’s a worked example that I initially discussed with the team at Nvidia at NRF (you know who you are!)
I thought I’d take this near-real-world example for the ‘holiday season’ and look at why agentic is so much more than “complete a purchase of some sneakers following a Google search”1, and how Sovereign AI can increase the customer’s convenience, utility and benefit.
With so many readers (and the humble author) acting as truck driver/tour guides/pack animals on family holidays, I’m going to look at a modern example of planning a family road trip.
The EV Family Road Trip: A Real-World Test Case
Consider this scenario: driving an electric vehicle from the UK to southern France with a spouse and two children (one baby, one 10-year-old). This journey requires orchestrating multiple systems, accounts, and preferences - exactly where there’s a clear hierarchy of value:
many web resources give you info and allow direct booking. Downside? You become a keyboard donkey and waste half your life juggling options and forgetting things, and then everyone else becomes an expert and nags/help
agentic resources and services chain some of the processes and cut down on the admin and execution time, but still leave the humanoid holding together the plan and options
Sovereign AI orchestrates the individual parts and optimises for you, yourself, only
You are so rich that you have a team of butlers and a travel concierge, so you simply wave your hand and it’s done.
We’ll have to skip 4 until our vapourware startup is sold, so let’s get to planning!
As a side-bar, in the very olden days before the internet, such planning would be done by a thing called “A Travel Agent” who had knowledge, access to multiple booking engines, could hold reservations (something that mere typist-consumers cannot do) and create itineraries. The web brought direct access and autonomy, but also disaggregated admin and hassle.
So, to the journey planning…
The human process…
I approach my keyboard with knowledge: I know my (imaginary) EV’s details, my charging plan, my previous experience of French “Aires” (service stations), the typical range with full aircon, steady 110kph cruising on the motorways. I know my family’s love of strong coffee (adults), those fruit-filled Lu biscuits, the play area at Mont St. Michel, the little place we stayed before kids (do they do family rooms? is there a car park?) and I get my head into organising mode. I fire up Google Maps, Booking.com, the French motorway system for their ‘tags’, my EV account, at least 5 ‘travelling parents tips for French driving’ blogs and with 20 open tags I close the office door and take a deep draught of my black, black coffee…
The Agentic promise
In our agentic world, as a digital leader and all-round switched on person, I envisage the following AI-powered improvements.
The car
What the Agent Does:
Your sovereign agent accesses real-time EV charging data through the Google Places API with EV charging station information (https://mapsplatform.google.com/resources/blog/introducing-the-new-places-api-with-access-to-new-ev-accessibility-features-and-more/), which provides connector types, charging speeds, and real-time availability. It cross-references this with family preferences from your travel history and combines route optimisation with child-friendly facilities.
Current Systems Available:
Open Charge Map API (https://openchargemap.org/site/develop/api) provides global EV charging location data
Google Maps EV routing features (https://support.google.com/maps/answer/9773205?hl=en) built into vehicles showing "battery on arrival" estimates
Smartcar API (https://smartcar.com/docs/api) for real-time vehicle data including battery level, range, and charging status
What the Agent Needs Access To:
Your EV's battery capacity, current charge level, and efficiency ratings via Smartcar's vehicle API (https://smartcar.com/docs/api)
Family travel preferences stored in your sovereign data profile (if you have one)
Real-time traffic and weather that affect range calculations
Previous trip feedback and facility ratings
Agent discussions with you:
"Prioritise fastest route (3 charging stops, 8 hours) or family comfort (4 stops with playground facilities, 9 hours)?" OK, on it.
Charging time
What the Agent Does:
Using APIs like Bolt.Earth Discovery API (https://bolt.earth/discovery-api) for real-time booking or AMPECO EV Charging Management API (https://www.ampeco.com/public-api/), your agent reserves charging slots during peak summer travel periods. It negotiates bundled rates with station operators.
The current agentic world would simply make a booking. A future Sovereign system would perhaps indulge in a bit of digital barter: "Reserve our family a 45-minute charging slot and we'll spend £30 on food and drinks at your facility. Wanna do a deal?”
Current Systems Available:
AMPECO public API (https://www.ampeco.com/public-api/) supports booking, payment processing, and real-time station management
Virta EV charging APIs (https://www.virta.global/virta-api) for comprehensive charging network integration
Plugmatic API integration (https://www.plugmatic.ro/features/api-integration) connecting EV charging to business systems
What the Agent Needs Access To:
Payment authorisation for charging network deposits - along with choosing which of your cards to use and why
Your charging network loyalty memberships and payment history
Family spending patterns to negotiate food and retail bundles
Agent discussion:
"Pre-pay for guaranteed 50kW fast charging slots (+€25) or risk availability at slower 22kW public chargers?"
Accommodation
What the Agent Does:
The agent searches via Expedia's Rapid API (https://developers.expediagroup.com/docs/products/rapid/lodging/booking) or Booking.com's connectivity APIs (https://developers.booking.com), filtering for family rooms near charging infrastructure, factoring in your accommodation preferences, loyalty points, and previous stay ratings.
Current Systems Available:
Expedia Rapid API (https://developers.expediagroup.com) provides access to 600,000+ properties with real-time booking
Booking.com Partnership Hub API V3 (https://partnerships.booking.com/api-v3) offering enhanced search and booking capabilities since 2022, and more APIs available at their developer hub - https://developers.booking.com/
Multiple hotel chain loyalty program APIs for rate comparison and deal, bundle or reward evaluation.
What the Agent Needs Access To:
Hotel loyalty program accounts across multiple chains, and perhaps your credit card preference programmes
Family accommodation requirements (crib, connecting rooms, pool access)
Calendar integration for seamless check-in timing with the charging schedule
Agent discussion:
"Hotel with on-site EV charging (+€20/night) or walking distance to a rapid charging hub?"
For whom the bell tolls
What the Agent Does:
The agent automatically handles European toll payments through the Emovis Liber-t system (https://www.emovis-tag.co.uk/Telepeage) or Bip&Go electronic toll payment (https://www.bipandgo.com/en/), which work across French, Spanish, and Portuguese motorway networks. It verifies car insurance coverage using Surepass Insurance Verification API (https://surepass.io/insurance-verification-api/) and handles congestion zone registrations.
What the Agent Needs Access To:
Vehicle registration and insurance policy details (which could, of course, itself be an API)
Bank account for direct debit toll payments (Liber-t charges UK accounts in GBP)
Driver passport/ID information for European travel compliance
Agent discussion:
"Set up automatic toll collection (€25 setup + €10 annual fee) to save an average wait of 37 minutes on your journey or pay manually at toll booths?"
In-flight
As you start on your journey your agentic assistants continue to help.
What the Agent Does:
Throughout the journey, the agent monitors vehicle telemetry via Smartcar's real-time APIs (https://smartcar.com/docs/api), adjusts charging stops based on traffic delays, and manages parking payments through integrated systems like Autopay (https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/autopay-vignettes-motorway/id1375463061).
Current Systems Available:
Google Maps built-in EV features (https://support.google.com/maps/answer/9773205) showing real-time battery levels and charging assistance
Apple CarPlay EV integration (https://developer.apple.com/carplay/) for in-dashboard charging information
Real-time EV charging webhooks from multiple API providers for live station status updates
What the Agent Needs Access To:
Continuous vehicle data stream (battery, consumption, location)
Payment methods for dynamic booking changes and parking fees
Real-time traffic and weather APIs affecting journey optimisation
Agent discussions (in real time):
"Traffic delay detected - extend current charging session 20 minutes (+€8) or find alternative faster route?"
Sounds good - why do we need Sovereign AI
The story so far sounds like efficiency, but the experience of the citizen is that of holding a lot of point systems together in her brain. Everything I’ve noted above is in some way an improvement (inasmuch as more data is brought to bear on a question, and the speed of getting answers is that of a page-load rather than weeks). However, it’s a case of quickly hurrying faster (!) to arrive at the same time.
Current platform-specific agents do not provide the optimal experience because:
Data Fragmentation: Your Google account sees search history, Apple sees device usage, hotel loyalty programs see accommodation preferences, but none see the complete picture needed for optimal family travel decisions.
Conflicting Incentives: Platform agents optimise for their ecosystem's revenue, not your family's best interests. Google may prefer partners in its payment network; hotel platforms favour higher-commission properties, or an EV charger deal means the loss of a different benefit in a different ecosystem.
Privacy Limitations: Sharing intimate family travel data across multiple platforms creates privacy risks and reduces your control over how that information is used or monetised.
Optimising for the whole human: Sovereign AI sees all your cards, accounts, banks, preferences and the whole family context. It has the same perspective, the same knowledge and the same objective as the carbon-based life-form.
Only connect…
This scenario isn't science fiction. The APIs, payment systems, and integration points exist:
EV charging networks offer comprehensive booking and management APIs
Travel platforms provide real-time availability and booking capabilities
Vehicle manufacturers expose rich telemetry data through standardized APIs
Payment systems handle cross-border transactions and automated billing
Insurance providers offer real-time verification services
What's missing is:
The Trusted Identity Framework that lets you, the consumer, control how these systems work together on your behalf
The workflow to chain and coordinate all of these elements under a single understanding of “success”, so that it’s not just a faster series of disconnected admin steps.
The Sovereign Advantage
With sovereign AI, your agent works exclusively for your family's interests, with comprehensive access to:
Your complete financial picture for budget-optimised decisions across all vendors
Health and dietary requirements for restaurant and facility recommendations
Sustainability preferences for route and vendor selection
Privacy controls determining exactly what data is shared with which services
Learning capabilities that improve recommendations while keeping insights private.
This transforms holiday planning from a series of disconnected platform interactions into a seamless, personalised experience that genuinely serves your family's needs rather than corporate interests.
To return to my previous article, I wondered who might be the ideal provider of the Sovereign identity - government, a web3 decentralised service, your bank, Apple, the NHS, other… This article doesn’t answer who that might be, but it does set out a series of systems that the Sovereign system needs to be able to control, sit above and be independent of.
The present question isn't whether the technology exists - it does. The question is whether we'll build consumer sovereignty into these systems, or accept that our most complex and important decisions will always be mediated by platforms optimising for individual corporate benefit, rather than the consumer.
What other scenarios do you see where a Sovereign AI would benefit consumers greatly? Let me know in the comments or message me.
Google shop with AI - https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/20/google-adds-ai-powered-shopping-features-for-discovery-and-easy-check-out/