KAMAZ will launch unmanned tractors between Moscow and St. Petersburg

Sergey Nazarenko, Chief Designer of innovative vehicles and Head of the service of KAMAZ PJSC, said at the XIV International Forum "Russia – the Islamic World: KazanForum 2023" that in mid–June, commercial traffic of unmanned mainline tractors will be launched along the M-11 highway, which will transport cargo between Moscow and St. Petersburg. Tatarstan auto giant has entered the project "Mayak: unmanned transport corridors".

"We will launch traffic on the M-11 highway in less than a month. The M-12 highway is next in line," Nazarenko said.

President of the Association of Transport Engineers, Professor of the Moscow Automobile and Road State Technical University, Head of the Department "Organization and safety of Traffic, intelligent transport systems" Sultan Zhankaziev said that this year the first tests of the movement of unmanned vehicles will begin in the experimental zone on the territory of the special economic zone "Alabuga".

"At the current stage of technological development, new technological tasks and requirements have appeared. If we want self-driving cars to be in taxis, carsharing and the service system as a whole, we must create new technologies. It is quite difficult to do this. If a few years ago the infrastructure requirements concerned only the system of fixing violations or traffic lights, then over time we realized that these technologies should become intelligent. Now we clearly understand: we need to show what an ecosystem of unmanned high-tech vehicles is," Zhankaziev said.

The best solution for this, he added, is to create experimental polygons. This is the basic concept of the pilot zone on the territory of the SEZ "Alabuga".

Chairman of the Council of the Association for the Promotion of Digital Development, Director of GBU "Road Safety", Head of the Department "Intelligent Transport Systems" KNITU-KAI Rifkat Minnikhanov noted that the national project "Safe and high-quality roads" does not provide funds for the development of highly automated vehicles. There is no budget financing from the subjects either.

"We are ahead. Today we show that we have the best practices, we indicate the issue. Until a person sees what new technologies give, there will be no progress," Minnikhanov said.

The XIV International Forum "Russia – the Islamic World: KazanForum" takes place in Kazan on May 18-19. 7210 people from 85 countries and 84 regions of the Russian Federation have registered to participate in the forum. In total, 15 thousand people are expected to participate in the work and support of the forum's events.

The largest delegations, with more than 100 participants, are expected from countries such as Azerbaijan, Iran, Malaysia, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan. In total, 45 diplomatic missions, as well as 37 Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassadors will take part in the forum.

Of the subjects of Russia, the largest delegations will arrive from Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Republic of Bashkortostan, the Republic of Mordovia, the Chechen Republic, the Samara Region, the Orenburg Region and the Perm Region.

Among the high-ranking guests, Deputy Prime Ministers of the Russian Federation Andrei Belousov, Marat Khusnullin, Alexey Overchuk, as well as Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia are expected. More than 17 heads of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation will also take part in the forum.

Within the framework of the International Economic Forum "Russia – the Islamic World: KazanForum" 2023, it is planned to hold about 200 different events, including strategic sessions, conferences, round tables and others.