"Yandex" has not recorded a single accident caused by its robotaxis. This was stated by the company's press service. The processing of such accidents does not differ from the standard process.
But there was an incident
In February 2024, a Yandex self-driving car was involved in an accident on the Moscow Ring Road. As it turned out, the section of the ring road where the collision occurred is on the drone's route from the garage to the research polygon.
At that moment, the car was moving in manual mode, with a test driver behind the wheel: the car in front braked sharply due to an accident in the adjacent lane, the test driver also began emergency braking but could not stop due to the slippery road.
As a result of the collision, no one was injured, and the cars sustained minor damage.
Where robotaxis are already used in Russia
Yandex robotaxis already transport passengers in the Sirius urban district near Sochi and in Innopolis in Tatarstan. In Innopolis, self-driving taxis have been operating since 2018 — it was the first such service in Europe.
The car reads the road itself, predicts the behavior of other road users, and plots the route in real-time. For this, lidars, radars, and cameras are used, and all decisions are made on board — the system does not depend on the internet.
Does Yandex robotaxi operate in Moscow?
Earlier, Yandex launched robotaxis between its offices in the "Krasnaya Roza" business quarter and "Moscow City" — for now, only company employees who regularly move between locations can use it. A car can be called just like a regular taxi, through the "Yandex Go" application.
This is another stage of testing before commercial launch: by the end of 2026, the company plans to deploy 200 robotaxis on the streets of Moscow. At the same time, passengers will retain the right to refuse a trip in a self-driving car and wait for a regular car with a driver.
Currently, on the Moscow route, the car is driven by Yandex's own AI-based autonomous driving system, with a test driver in the cabin.
Read more on the topic:
- Robot Drove 700 km from Moscow to St. Petersburg Without a Driver: Yandex Reports on the Development of its Autonomous Transport
- Robotaxis Will Be Allowed to Violate Traffic Rules: the Industry Names the Main Regulatory Barrier
- 19 Million Kilometers Without a Single Accident: Driverless Cars Are Already Actively Traversing Russia