The first driverless trucks began carrying freight on the Moscow-Petersburg federal highway earlier this week, Russian auto maker KAMAZ announced during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
According the company, the vehicles, created around the frame of the KAMAZ-54901 truck tractor, are equipped with communication, navigation, technical vision, and incoming information-processing systems, while their braking and steering system, engine and automatic transmission are controlled using an electronic CAN bus.
“In total, four digital freight trucks, as part of a road train with a semi-trailer, will transport cargo between the two cities,” the company’s press release reads.
The vehicles will operate 24 hours per day, seven days per week along the 650-kilometer route without stops in other cities.
The trucks will stop only for loading and unloading, for refueling and for vehicle maintenance, KAMAZ said, adding that a test engineer, who is ready to take control in emergency situations, will sit in the cab during the trip as part of the vehicles’ ELR (experimental legal regime) program.
The company is planning to dispense with the presence of an operator in the truck cabin by 2025, when the highway’s bypass around Tver is completed.
“Today KAMAZ is working on a number of projects on unmanned vehicles,” Irek Gumerov, the company’s Deputy General Director, said. “The results of the first stage of the Unmanned Logistic Corridors project will determine plans for the further development of the direction and the schedule for the production of this equipment.”
The project that comes as part of the ELR program on the M-11 Neva highway is being implemented in cooperation with PEС Reliable logistics, Globaltruck and Gazpromneft-Snabzhenie. Starline, Globaltruck Logistic, Magnit and the road operator Avtodor are also taking part in the project.
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