Kazan Federal University and KAMAZ launch new R&D center

Rector Ilshat Gafurov and General Director Sergey Kogogin signed an agreement to develop intelligent transport systems.

The center will concentrate on driverless truck technology.

“We are ready to move in this direction. KAMAZ can assist and lobby our mutual interests. For me, the most important thing is that we are not late. All companies are in search mode right now. We have the opportunity to proceed forward based on what knowledge has been amassed in the world so far,” said Sergey Kogogin.

Since 2016, the two sides have been working in virtual infrastructure, sensor systems, location, navigation, communication, and computing for autonomous vehicles. A consortium of more than a dozen companies has emerged under the guidance of KAMAZ and KFU. A prototype was shown this May to the government officials.

“We are creating a smart city system, and we have to choose a small town for pilot tests. As the first polygon, we can choose the Universiade Village. We want to become a strategic scientific partner for KAMAZ and a unified competence center in the Republic of Tatarstan,” replied Dr. Gafurov.

The next stage is to agree on infrastructure and technology for driverless trucks, which, among other things, involves efforts by economists and legal experts.

“Today, we have shown to you the full spectrum of research that the Center will undertake. Dozens of enterprises work on our objectives. Thus, Kazan University establishes a whole cooperation system,” emphasized AstroChallenge Unit manager Oleg Sherstyukov.

Overall, a driverless vehicle system based on homemade technology is in the works. Currently, a functioning autopilot device is estimated at 200 thousand rubles (about 3 thousand USD), but it will become cheaper as soon as mass production is in place. The sides plan to create a marketable system and present it to the world soon.

Source text: Kamill Gareev

Translation: Yury Nurmeev