Yandex has experienced an unmanned vehicle in snow conditions

19 February 2018

Умная машина без труда справилась с узкими московскими улочками

"Yandex" has published a video that demonstrates how the work of their own prototype of an unmanned vehicle in snow-covered Moscow streets. Smart car drove through the neighborhood Khamovniki, where the head office of "Yandex". The driver was attended by the engineer, which insured the electronics but did not interfere in the management process.

The video shows the operation of the autopilot on the small streets and alleys. Unmanned machine easily goes around parked cars. She also is able to recognize pedestrians.

In "Yandex" noted that the teaching of intelligent machines in complex weather conditions is one of the priority areas, since winter in large parts of Russia lasts long enough. The developers have identified two key difficulties faced by the autopilot. First and foremost is the abundant amount of snow and ice. Due to the poor traction the car has to use other algorithms and change management program.

Besides, the picture with the camera and sensors is somewhat different: the image has a large number of white (snow). Sometimes because of this the computer more difficult to determine the edge of the roadway. Also problems with the identification of road markings and signs.

This is not the first tests of the drone "Yandex" in the snowy conditions. The team has been collecting data since December last year. On the start this autopilot was trained at closed landfills. Only after the break-in he was admitted to a public road.

"Yandex" for the first time announced the development of its own unmanned vehicle in the late spring of 2017. In the future the company plans to convert cars of the service "Yandex.Taxi" to the new platform, so that in the future taxi drivers will be unemployed.