Although the taxi is called unmanned. Self-driving taxi is becoming more widespread. There are already a number of companies in Singapore developing drone taxi

Yandex experts believe that in the not too distant future, many cities will probably resemble the Skolkovo scientific and technological complex, which is located one and a half kilometers from the Moscow Ring Road. That is why they decided to create there the first test zone in Russia, where an unmanned vehicle can be called through the Yandex.Taxi application: to understand how a drone will work in an environment that “is gradually becoming the standard of an urban device”.

An unmanned taxi will ride freely on the territory of Skolkovo: to call it, you need to open the Yandex.Taxi application, after which the service will determine the user's location and, if he is on the territory of the science city, will offer a trip on a drone. Yandex informs that the service of calling a robotaxi is available only to Skolkovo residents, but later all guests of the innovation center will be able to use it.

To use a drone, you need to accept the terms of an electronic agreement on participation in testing unmanned vehicles - and you also need to be over 18 years old. The fare will be calculated at the standard rate and the waiting time for the car depends on demand. An unmanned taxi based on a hybrid compact van Toyota Prius is equipped with lidars, radars and other sensors, as well as a computer vision system that analyzes the environment in real time.

A Yandex test engineer will always be in the passenger seat of the drone, monitoring the movement and ready to take over. Only a limited area of \u200b\u200btaxi operation is available in the application, and boarding is carried out only in certain places. A self-driving car observes traffic rules, detects and avoids obstacles, lets pedestrians pass and, if necessary, brakes urgently.

An unmanned taxi with intelligent order distribution technology may appear in Moscow. Yandex.Taxi has started negotiations with car manufacturers. Elina Staviskaya, head of PR projects of the service, told the site about this. Earlier, Uber launched the first unmanned taxis in the United States, the decision on their implementation in Moscow can be made based on the results of an experiment in the States, said the company's representative in Russia Yevgenia Shipova. The Moscow authorities have expressed their readiness to cooperate with taxi services on this issue. The Moscow City Duma noted that the appearance of unmanned taxis will require changes in traffic rules and the organization of special dedicated lanes.

Yandex.Taxi is negotiating with automakers about an unmanned taxi and the start of testing this technology. We see a huge potential in combining unmanned vehicles and technologies for intelligent distribution of orders: taking into account the traffic situation and the special wishes of users, "Staviskaya said.

Yandex has signed a cooperation agreement with PJSC KAMAZ to develop a semi-autonomous vehicle control system based on a set of artificial intelligence technologies: computer vision, machine learning, and speech technologies. It is planned to develop a driver assistance system capable of keeping the car in the lane, initiating emergency braking, and controlling the degree of driver fatigue.

“We have just signed an agreement, we are just starting to develop it,” said Oleg Afanasyev, director of the KAMAZ PR Department.

The Uber taxi service has already started using self-driving cars in test mode in the American city of Pittsburgh. "The driverless taxi service in Pittsburgh is no different from a regular service. The only feature is that at the time of testing, there is a specialist in the car who provides control. We would like to first test it before using it on a full scale. There are a lot of user reviews that they like , there are a lot of videos. There have been no overlaps, emergency situations at the moment, "- said the official representative of Uber in Russia Evgenia Shipova.

She was unable to specify when unmanned taxis could appear in the Russian capital. Uber will first look at the results of a pilot project in Pittsburgh, she said. "This is a very serious step, preparation for the test regime took place for 18 months. This is a project that requires a lot of preparation," Shipova said.

The Moscow authorities have expressed their readiness to cooperate with taxi companies if they apply for unmanned vehicles. Dmitry Pronin, deputy head of the transport department, said that he knows about the Uber experiment. "Undoubtedly, the potential for future changes is concentrated in this development. We will clearly watch, monitor and analyze this. If we apply with a proposal, we will consider it and our possibilities," Pronin said.

Ford will launch mass production of self-driving cars that will be available to a wide range of consumers by 2025. In 2021, a car that does not have a steering wheel and pedals will be delivered to taxi services. Self-driving cars are being tested by Tesla and Google. The world's first self-driving taxi in Singapore in August 2016 by nuTonomy. At the moment, the vehicle fleet consists of six cars. But by the end of the year, their number may increase to twelve. And the ultimate goal is to replace all taxis with self-driving ones by 2018, which should generally reduce the number of cars on the congested roads of Singapore. At the same time, the first unmanned buses in Russia for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The traffic police have already started operating autonomous vehicles.

Staviskaya added that while there is no legal framework for the use of self-driving cars, its appearance could accelerate the development of the market. According to the chairman of the commission on legislation of the Moscow City Duma, Alexander Semennikov, the introduction of unmanned taxis will require changes in legislation, but minimal.

"This is the future, now in many countries this topic is developing. Moscow is a city of the 21st century, and it willingly applies all technologies. Obviously, when unmanned vehicles appear, it is necessary to create dedicated lanes for them, where there is no heavy traffic, there is no need to rebuild, only slow down before obstacles, "Semennikov said.

Vladimir Vlasov, head of the Department of Transport Telematics and Robotics at MADI, agrees with Semennikov: Moscow needs to be prepared for the emergence of "drones" and change traffic rules. "You can make dedicated lanes in the center of the road, plus telematics at the level of the scoreboard. It is necessary to create an infrastructure that will allow driving in an unmanned vehicle," Vlasov said.

According to him, first, rent-cars will appear in the capital, these may be city guides. "It will start from the central districts of the city, where there will be excursions to historical sites. And then transport transportation using unmanned vehicles may appear," the expert concluded.

Evgenia Kislaya, Anatoly Fedotov

Yandex has launched a test service for an unmanned taxi in the city of Innopolis in Tatarstan. Residents of the city can call one of two cars through a bot in Telegram and move between five points of disembarkation and embarkation. During the trips, the company's engineer will be present in the front passenger seat, according to the Yandex blog.

Most of the big self-driving car developers, such as Waymo and Uber, are initially going to use them as vehicles for taxi services. This is largely due to the fact that, as a rule, several expensive lidars are installed in unmanned vehicles at once, as well as powerful computing modules for processing data in real time, which is why, at the initial stage of development of unmanned vehicles, they will be too expensive for personal ownership.

Yandex, which launched its unmanned vehicle in May 2017, also launched a test service for an unmanned taxi. So far, two of the company's vehicles based on the Toyota Prius are participating in testing. Residents of the city who registered in the testing program can call a car through a bot in Telegram at one of five points designed for disembarking and picking up passengers. Moreover, during the pilot project, all trips will be free.

Pick-up and drop-off zones for unmanned taxi passengers

Three rear seats of the car are available for passengers - the company's engineer will be in the front passenger seat during all trips, monitoring the regular operation of the autopilot, and the company decided to leave the driver's seat empty.

The company announced that a pilot project in Innopolis was launched as part of an agreement on the development of unmanned vehicles in Tatarstan, signed with the government of the republic.

Previously, Yandex had already tested its unmanned vehicles on public roads in Moscow, and then one of them was a trip from Moscow to Kazan, during which 99 percent of the route was covered in autopilot mode.

Self-driving taxi services are actively developing in the United States. For example, in 2017, Waymo, a continuation of the self-driving car project at Google, is a closed version of the self-driving taxi service, in which passengers are volunteers who do not work for the company. And at the end of 2018 Waymo plans to launch a publicly available service in Arizona and already has an agreement to supply 62 thousand cars for this. In addition, the recently unmanned taxi service in Texas startup Drive.ai.

Grigory Kopiev

The first unmanned taxi in Europe appeared in Tatarstan. This became possible thanks to an agreement on the development of unmanned vehicles in the republic between the Tatarstan government and Yandex. More details about the new service can be found in the report of the Tatar-inform news agency.

Innopolis became the first city in Europe where you can use a drone for everyday travel. Two unmanned Toyota Prius vehicles and five stops have appeared in the city: a university, a stadium, a medical center, the Zion residential area and the Popov Technopark. For example, a citizen of Poland can call a taxi to his house in the morning, take it to work in a technopark, and from there go to the gym.

You can ride a drone for free

You can use an unmanned taxi every day and absolutely free. However, in order to become a client of the "invisible driver" city residents must agree to participate in testing. To date, 100 people have already announced their desire.

The waiting time for the car depends on demand, but there is a little secret: to get to your destination faster, you can arrange a joint trip. Let's say, unite with your housemates and all together go to work in a technopark. The capacity of an unmanned taxi is three people.

The car observes the traffic rules, lets pedestrians pass, avoids obstacles and can apply emergency braking. Its work is supervised by a Yandex test engineer. He is also present in the cabin of an unmanned vehicle when traveling, but sits in the passenger seat.

“Last year Yandex began active tests of unmanned vehicles, and this summer our car drove for the first time in automatic mode almost 800 kilometers from Moscow to Kazan,” said Elena Bunina, General Director of Yandex in Russia. - For us, self-driving technology is one of the key topics. We are confident that in the next few years they will find application in public transport, car sharing or, for example, in taxis. This will make transportation cheaper, more accessible, and most importantly, safer. "

"A drone is more reliable than a driver with a purchased license"

Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov was one of the first to test the first unmanned taxi in Innopolis and shared his impressions with journalists.

“In the next few years, unmanned vehicles will become commonplace. Today in Innopolis it is available to everyone. We have found a legal form for this. Innopolis is the most modern city, and we need to live up to this name, ”the President of the Republic of Tatarstan noted.

In addition, according to Rustam Minnikhanov, next year, not only residents of Innopolis, but also residents of Kazan and guests of the Tatarstan capital will be able to use unmanned vehicles at the WorldSkills World Championship. This issue has already been agreed with the management of Yandex.

“I am convinced that a self-driving car is more reliable than the driver who bought the license. I can drive a car professionally and can appreciate how smoothly and systematically everything works - this is the quality of the best driver. As it turns, braking is very comfortable and reliable. I recommend using the opportunity to ride an unmanned vehicle, ”concluded the Tatarstan leader.

Test drive a car with an invisible driver

The journalist of IA "Tatar-inform" also decided to take a ride in an unmanned taxi. Sitting in the car, the question arose: "How does the car understand that it's time to get under way?" It turns out that this is still the function of the test engineer, who sits in the front passenger seat and controls the process.

Overall, our test ride took about ten minutes. During this time, we managed to see almost the entire IT city. In particular, we drove around the technopark, passed the colorful houses of the kindergarten, drove past residential buildings and a sports center. All this time, the car itself decided when to accelerate, and when to stop to let the pedestrian pass.

For example, a visualization panel is installed in the car's interior, which shows the route of the trip through the "eyes" of the drone. For example, the fences on the scoreboard glow red and warn the car that it is not allowed to go there. Pedestrians are shown as a green rectangle. "Seeing" such a signal, our drone slowed down and stopped to let the pedestrian pass. After the "rectangle" moved away, the car moved off again.

During the entire trip, the unmanned Toyota never exceeded the speed, but it also did not “trudge” too slowly, moving at a speed of about 40 km / h. By the way, the feeling of driving an unmanned car is no different from a trip with a real and very accurate driver.