Many cab drivers are working illegally, increasing safety risks for passengers, lawmakers have argued
Russian lawmakers have proposed expanding trials of driverless taxis across the country, arguing that the move would swiftly reduce the number of migrant drivers and improve passenger safety.
In a letter to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Aleksey Nechayev, leader of the New People party, and Anton Tkachev, first deputy chair of the State Duma committee on information policy, pointed to the “impressive results” from existing tests of autonomous vehicles in Moscow, Tatarstan, central Russia, and the southern resort town of Sirius.
In light of this, the letter asked Mishustin to “accelerate the expansion of testing zones in Moscow itself and implement a phased launch of autonomous transportation in other Russian cities that are highly prepared for the experiment.”
The lawmakers argued that deploying driverless taxis nationwide could “quickly replace migrants with automated technologies and ensure a higher level of safety for citizens.” The letter noted that in some Russian cities, migrants make up 10-40% of taxi drivers. Lawmakers claimed many work illegally or outside labor regulations, posing risks to passengers. They warned that an increase in the number in migrant taxi drivers leads to more crime in taxis.
Earlier this month, Russia’s Transport Ministry said that fully autonomous taxis on city streets are likely to appear only after 2030. “We won’t rush here. We will refine all technological schemes to make it as safe as possible,” Deputy Minister Andrey Nikitin said.
Still, driverless taxis are already operating in limited forms. In 2023, Yandex launched a project involving AI-steered taxis in Moscow’s Yasenevo district, with the vehicles overseen by a safety driver on board.
Official figures show that since spring 2022, robotaxis have completed 80,000 trips in Sirius, 20,000 in Innopolis, Tatarstan, and 2,000 in Yasenevo. Over two and a half years of trials, driverless cars were involved in just 36 accidents, only two of which were caused by the automated systems themselves, according to Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development.
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