Russia to test fully autonomous vehicles on public roads in 2021-2024
MOSCOW. March 15 (Interfax) - Russia will test self-driving vehicles without an engineer on board on public roads in 2021-2024, the Transport Ministry said in a statement.
First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov approved an action plan developed by the ministry for the testing and phased launch of highly automated vehicles without an engineer on board.
"The plan of actions envisages trial commercial operation of highly automated vehicles in certain territorial entities of the Russian Federation. Implementing the actions will make it possible from 2021 to 2024 to create the necessary legal conditions to introduce highly automated vehicles into the transport system. Ensuring the safety of road users and adherence to the established rules and regulations is an obligatory condition," the Transport Ministry said.
The positions of the Internal Affairs Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the Economic Development Ministry, the Justice Ministry, the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications, and Mass Media, the Industry and Trade Ministry, the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Emergency Situations Ministry, the Federal Protective Service, the Federal Security Service, the Bank of Russia, and Rosstandart were taken into account in preparing the action plan. The plan was additionally coordinated with sectoral expert associations - the Digital Transport and Logistics Association and the Russian Association of Motor Insurers (RAMI), and relevant major companies - OJSC Yandex , PJSC Kamaz , PJSC Sberbank , LLC GAZ Group, and PJSC Gazprom Neft .
"Introduction of self-driving transport is dictated by unconditional socioeconomic effects and is one of the principal trends of digital development of the transport system throughout the world. The document's approval is a highly important step on the path of creating the necessary conditions for safe and effective operation of self-drivers in Russia," the statement quoted head of the Transport Ministry's digital development department Dmitry Bakanov as saying.
The Moscow Automobile and Road Construction State Technical University (MADI) and Yandex have the right to test self-driving vehicles in Russia. The latter is testing several dozen such vehicles with engineers on board on roads in Moscow and the restricted access areas of Skolkovo and Innopolis.
"Innopolis and Skolkovo will be the first territories for testing self-driving vehicles without engineers on board. In addition, testing will possibly take place in certain regions of Moscow and St. Petersburg. This issue is currently being worked out with companies that develop self-driving vehicles," a source close to the Transport Ministry told Interfax.