5 Mar 2022 11:33

Yandex's self-driving vehicle development division suspends operations in USA amid situation in Ukraine

MOSCOW. March 5 (Interfax) - Yandex SDG, the Yandex division developing drones, has halted operations in the United States amid the situation in Ukraine.

"We have temporarily suspended road tests of self-driving vehicles in Ann Arbor, Michigan," the press service of Yandex's unmanned technologies told Interfax.

The company also said that delivery robots for meals on the campuses of United States university as part of a partnership with Grubhub "will be moved to other locations, where the company has already launched delivery robots or plans to launch them. The company previously announced plans to launch robot couriers in Dubai and Seoul, and they also deliver in Moscow, Innopolis, and St. Petersburg.

Yandex Self-Driving Group (Yandex SDG) was spun off from the Yandex.Taxi group into a separate company in 2020.

Yandex fully consolidated Yandex SDG last year, buying 18.2% from Uber as part of a large-scale restructuring of joint ventures in the taxi and food-tech industries, as well as self-driving vehicles, which the Russian and American partners have been developing for several years.

In the U.S., Yandex SDG has been testing self-driving cars in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the company has previously partnered with Grubhub to deliver food by courier robots on U.S. university campuses.