Yandex: Moscow to see fully self-driving cars in 4–7 years

MOSCOW, Aug 19 (PRIME) -- Moscow could see fully self-driving cars in four to seven years, and some other cities with an easier situation on roads may have such vehicles even earlier, Dmitry Polishchuk, head of the driverless cars department at Internet company Yandex, told PRIME on Monday.

A test engineer is currently at the wheel of a self-driving car to get control in case of emergency.

“I think it will take from four to seven years to start an active implementation of the technology in conditions of Moscow. What does it mean to implement? No notes or reservations: a car without anyone drives and it is safe,” Polishchuk said.

Self-driving cars will be launched in certain regions, which will expand gradually, he said.

“There are cities with easier conditions on roads than Moscow. There are no such traffic jams, circulation is lighter, but road infrastructure is decent, that is not all spots are of the same complexity from the point of view of the traffic,” Polishchuk said, adding that self-driving cars will appear here sooner.

Yandex will raise its fleet of self-driving cars up to 1,000 vehicles in the next a year and a half to two years. At present, the company has 35 certified autonomous cars, and they are being tested on Moscow roads.

“We need a huge fleet to validate the technology,” Polishchuk said.

The company’s self-driving cars drive more than 50,000 kilometers per week in total, while they collect data on traffic and test the technology, he said.

End