A driverless taxi service has been launched in the Skolkovo innovations center.
The corresponding agreement was singed by heads of the two companies, Igor Drozdov of Skolkovo and Yelena Bunina of Yandex. The unmanned taxi will be available so far for the residents of the innovation center only. They can call it via the Yandex.Taxi mobile app and use the service for free.
“This is the first step to make unmanned vehicles a popular public transport service and part of everyday routine“, the press statement from the Russian IT giant said.
According to the developers of the innovative project, the vehicle obeys motor traffic regulations and closely follows the situation on the road, which reduces the risk of accidents to minimum.
Specialists at Yandex, Russia’s top Internet and technology company, have been improving the technology since 2016. The unmanned car’s artificial intellect can recognize obstacles and distinguish pedestrians from inanimate objects, and stop the vehicle in case it cannot find its way around.
The company started the driverless car project in late 2016, aiming to create a technology that does not require a steering wheel. In February 2018, a Yandex driverless automobile debuted on Moscow roads following a snowstorm, and in June 2018, it traveled from Moscow to Kazan covering 789 kilometers.
In late August 2018, the Yandex company launched test driverless rides for residents of the town of Innopolis in Tatarstan. Two self-driving cars will run in the city daily, with five passenger boarding and unloading points opened near the town’s major facilities. In the future, the number of cars and stops may be increased if necessary.