Russia's Kazan May Be First In Europe To Allow Unmanned Cars Operate Without Human Control

KAZAN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th September, 2021) Kazan, the capital of the Russian region of Tatarstan, considers launching a test legal regime on the territory of the Innopolis innovation hub, which would remove all restrictions for the operation of fully autonomous transportation, Roman Shaikhutdinov, Tatarstan's deputy prime minister, announced on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, the local authorities adopted the proposal to establish in Innopolis an experimental legal regime for drones and other high-tech transport, which would remove all barriers for their operation. If the proposal is further approved by the central government, Innopolis may become the first territory in Russia and in Europe without any legal restrictions for self-driving vehicles and other digital innovations.

Innopolis has already been used as a test site for self-driving taxi service, launched by Russian tech giant Yandex in 2018. The cars are currently allowed to drive through the city only in the presence of test drivers, who monitor the trip from the front passenger seat.

"Thanks to the joint work of the Innopolis City Hall and the Yandex unmanned technologies project team, the three-year experiment for testing unmanned vehicles can be considered a success. Adopting of the experimental legal regime will allow to upgrade the service and to make trips in Innopolis without an accompanying employee in the salon," Shaikhutdinov said.

In the broader sense, the regime will allow to create a national platform for managing unmanned vehicles, form new markets and encourage the development of algorithms and cyber-physical systems that will ensure the technological sovereignty of Russia, the region's deputy prime minister added.

Over the three years that Yandex has run the unmanned taxi service in Innopolis, the vehicles made more than 21,000 trips without a single accident.