Minister of Education and Science Dmitry Livanov Visits Kazan University Engineering Center in Naberezhnye Chelny

Federal minister was at the KAMAZ R&D Center on October 26th and stopped at KFU along the way.

Rector Ilshat Gafurov and Director of Naberezhnye Chelny Institute of KFU Makhmoot Ganiev escorted Minister Livanov through the Engineering Center, told him about the software and the labs where student training and advanced professional training are conducted.

KFU Engineering Center is the regional leader in automotive and machine industry training, energy industry, and construction. The Center has a longstanding partnership with local automotive giant KAMAZ which is now the home to many KFU graduates.

The Center has joint labs with Ford Sollers, Haier, KUKA, and many other prominent companies. Mr. Livanov familiarized himself with all the labs and took a photo with the students whom he met in the Lean Production Lab.

KAMAZ has an ambitious plan of producing an autonomous commercial vehicle before 2020. The project is co-financed by the Ministry of Education and Science along with other priority R&D projects and is now being worked on in partnership with Cognitive Technologies. The Ministry's grant is 300 million rubles.

The currently existing prototype can make some basic maneuvers, move in a road train, recognize road marking and signs, avoid pedestrians and stop in front of any obstacles. The vehicle's max speed is 60 km/h.

Minister Livanov was content with the Center's rapid progress and wished the Center and KAMAZ further fruitful cooperation.