MOSCOW, July 11. /TASS/. Yandex and Hyundai Mobis, one of the top 10 car component manufacturers in the world (part of South Korean car concern Hyundai), presented the first joint prototype of an autonomous vehicle based on Hyundai Sonata 2020. Now Yandex is completing test of a prototype and preparing to release the vehicle for a test on the roads of Moscow, the company said on Thursday.
Yandex noted that Sonata 2020 model taken as the basis for the autonomous vehicle was built on a platform developed with the active participation of Mobis engineers, it allows to embed an autonomous control system into the car. The press service of Yandex told TASS that the company plans to bring the unmanned vehicle to public roads in the summer, when the certification is passed.
It was reported earlier that Yandex and Hyundai Mobis have signed a memorandum of understanding on development of control systems for Level 4 and Level 5 autonomous vehicles, "combining Yandex’s established self-driving technologies with Hyundai Mobis’ extensive experience in the automotive industry".
The first stage of the collaboration between the partners was set to focus on developing a driverless prototype vehicle based on standard Hyundai or Kia production model cars. In the future, the companies plan to build a new autonomous driving control system as an out-of-the-box solution intended for car manufacturers, car sharing services and taxi fleets.
Earlier in June Yandex tested first five self-driving cars on Moscow’s public roads. In total, before the end of the year, Yandex planned to put more than 100 self-driving vehicles on the roads of Moscow and other test areas, the company added.
In November 2018, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree on the start of tests of drones on public roads in Moscow and Tatarstan. Experiment on pilot operation of drones will last until March 1, 2022.