To all appearances, unmanned public transport will appear in Russia much earlier than autonomous taxis. This is hinted at by the latest news that the Russian companies Cognitive Technologies and PK Transport Systems will launch testing of the first unmanned tramway in Russia in the next 1-2 months. There are not so many details about the new project, but they are already enough to get a rough idea of how the testing will take place and how the automatic control system will work.
The autonomous tram will be based on the Vityaz-M model, which has been produced since 2014 and will reach speeds of up to 75 km / h. The modification will be equipped with an automatic control system created by Cognitive Technologies. It includes about 20 video cameras and 10 radars. They are necessary for recognizing people, cars and other objects and quickly reacting to their appearance. According to the president of the company Olga Uskova, the system will remain operational even in rain, fog and other conditions with poor road visibility.
The tram is already being tested at the Bauman depot site. After successfully passing tests in a safe area, he will be released into the streets of Moscow. Initially, it will drive around without passengers on the Ostankino - Medvedkovo route. At the same time, the driver will be at the wheel, who in case of danger will be ready to take control into his own hands. The commercial launch is scheduled for 2021.
Perhaps launching autonomous transport from trams is the right choice. In Russia they are very popular and, perhaps, equipping them with an autopilot system is much cheaper. In addition, the likelihood that they will create chaos on the roads is extremely small.
Ramis Ganiev