Daimler partner presses ahead with autonomous shuttle: autonomous, electric, Russian – the prestige bus from Kamaz

06/19/2018

Daimler partner pushes ahead with autonomous shuttle Autonomous, electric, Russian – the prestige bus from Kamaz

REUTERS

Kamaz shuttle on the way in Kazan

REUTERS

Interior view of the WM shuttle from Kamaz

Kamaz demonstrates: The Russian truck manufacturer brings to the World Cup a driverless, electrically powered bus on the road. The Tatar capital Kazan, where Kamaz sits, suddenly becomes a center of automotive innovation.

As “Bloomberg” reportsHowever, the autonomous shuttle drives only on a closed, 650-meter-long route between fan zone and stadium. As a precaution, the vehicles, unlike those desired by the company, are not allowed to drive to the arena. In any case, the Russian authorities want to avoid accidents that have damaged the reputation of the new technology in the US. Only in the shuttle zone is the signal of the 5G mobile network sufficient, which the autonomous buses need to navigate.

After all, the fans in Kazan (where, inter alia, the German team plays their last preliminary round match against South Korea and possibly also in the quarter-finals) can already experience in this controlled environment how the Kamaz shuttle works in real service without a driver.

For the manufacturer means the minibus in any case an image jump. Kamaz is known for more rustic and robust diesel vices, which are among the most sought-after Russian export goods – but preferably in countries like Kazakhstan or Cuba.

In the hope of a growth market, the Daimler Group joined Kamaz in 2008. For years, however, the participation of Germans, who provide two supervisory boards, stagnates at 15 percent. An option, except for a blocking minority increase and to upgrade the strategic investment so far, has apparently not been drawn. Main shareholder is the state holding Rostec.

Daimler Show stock market chart hopes for it yourself, as a pioneer even before Google’s self-drive company Waymo to bring autonomous shuttles in the real road operation. Similar like at Volkswagen Show stock market chart However, the planning horizon is still a few years, until the companies are out of the test mode.

Kamaz cooperates with his experiments in the autonomous driving with the Russian Google competitor Yandex, who also controls the Uber branch in Russia and the country’s largest taxi fleet. He also declared Daimler one of the partners last year. In an autonomous Yandex taxi, President Vladimir Putin has also raced once before. In 2017, the smaller company Bakulin introduced a model for an autonomous shuttle called Matryoshka. But that was not seen at the World Cup venues.

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