Cognitive Pilot to invest 2.9 bln rubles in Tomsk project to make autopilots for farm machinery - paper

TOMSK. Nov 16 (Interfax) - Cognitive Pilot, a joint venture between Sberbank and Cognitive Technologies, will invest 2.9 billion rubles in a project to manufacture autopilot systems for farm machinery and railway transport in Tomsk, national daily Kommersant reported.

Cognitive Pilot reached an agreement with the Tomsk regional authorities at the 2023 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum to launch artificial intelligence-based autopilot systems for farm machinery and railway transport in Tomsk by 2026. The amount of investment in the project was not previously reported.

The company is expected to produce up to 50,000 systems per year. It reckons this scale of production is needed to meet demand in Russia, as well as export to China, Latin America, the Middle East and South Africa.

After launching production, Cognitive Pilot expects to increase the share of products on the Russian market to 27% from the current 8% and increase exports to 22% from 5%, Kommersant said, citing the company.

Production will be located in the Tomsk Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Tomsk SEZ chief executive Yury Drozdov said in an interview with Interfax that a property for the project was reserved for Cognitive Pilot as an expected resident.

Cognitive Pilot, which was formed in 2019, is 30% owned by Sberbank and 70% by the founders and management of Cognitive Technologies.