In St. Petersburg, the "smart" retro tram "Dovlatov", recently acquired by the city authorities, was temporarily removed from the tram tracks. It was involved in an accident and hit three pedestrians at a crossing, crashing into a crowd of people during its test run — the "Dovlatov" had brake failure. There were no passengers inside, and the driver was not injured.
The accident could theoretically have been prevented by the AI built into the vehicle. It helps the tram to brake if something goes wrong during its operation, if a person is on the tracks, or if the driver loses control due to health reasons or technical failure. The active safety system can perform braking in emergency situations, and it partially relies on data from the driver's wakefulness control system.
However, the developers of the "smart" filling from Cognitive Pilot noted in a comment for "Ъ-Ural" that AI was not enabled at the stage of testing this tram model. The autonomous driver assistance system was not initiated at this stage.
Meanwhile, in Moscow, fully unmanned trams will begin to run on some routes in the second half of 2024. One such drone is already running in test mode in the depot.
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