Head of KFU-KAMAZ Driverless Transport Group, Associate Professor Dmitry Chikrin reported at ITS Forum Kazan 2018.

His speech at the thematic panel was dedicated to autopilot systems. Dr. Chikrin said that the group currently focuses on driverless vehicles for closed environments, such as plant logistics and mining operations.

Answering a question about the industry's readiness for AI integration, he commented that raw and unprepared solutions can lead to disasters, which in turn will cause growing skepticism about autopilots in general public. Every accident with Tesla is a great stress for AI developers.

Speaking about truck trains, he said, “For the efficient and safe use of autopilot truck trains, we need full coverage of roads with infrastructure, including 4G communication networks and precise satellite navigation networks.”

KFU and KAMAZ are currently working on a series of driverless vehicles. The consortium unites over a dozen companies specializing in key technologies for driverless transport. The technology is expected to go into mass vehicles in 2019-2020.