The Deputy Mayor of Moscow Maksim Liksutov announces driverless tram in late 2022 - early 2023

Driverless trams may be launched in testing mode in Moscow in the end of 2022 – in the beginning of 2023, declared Maksim Liksutov, the Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Transport, at the discussion Robots in the City: The Future of Megacities with Autonomous Transport, held by the Noôdome community in Moscow.

Maksim Liksutov outlines that, in terms of legislation, everything is done to ensure that driverless transport appears as quickly as possible.

"The Government of Moscow supports modern Russian-made driverless technologies. We believe in their future, but it is a matter of 10-15 years. It will be great if safe and reliable technologies come sooner", - said Maksim Liksutov, the Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Transport.

As far as driverless transport is concerned, Moscow primarily relies on the rail public transport. Moscow together with Yandex work on the driverless tram project, planned to be tested since 2022 – at first, at depots, later at nights, and finally – with passengers. 80% of tram lines are already segregated from other road users.

Driverless technologies might be implemented on other types of transport as well: on the Moscow Central Circle (MCC), Russian Railways plan to reduce headway to 3 minutes or less thanks to automated control technologies.

"In Moscow Metro, the headway of trains during rush hour is 80-90 seconds. There is yet no company in Russia that can offer a solution to ensure such headways in driverless mode. We know that developments are underway, and we are very interested in them", - said Maksim Liksutov, the Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Transport.

Moreover, Sergey Sobyanin, the Mayor of Moscow, decided to support the projects for the development of driverless taxis. The Moscow City Duma (the legislative body of Moscow) also approved the proposal to introduce an experimental legal regime for testing driverless taxis in the capital. Already in 2022, Yandex driverless taxis will be launched on some routes.

Among other things, driverless transport can solve the problem of the shortage of drivers for urban transport. Given that the transition to driverless cars will be smooth, taxi drivers and couriers will not be out of work. Retraining and requalification programs will be launched.

Maksim Liksutov added that it is crucial to ensure the safety of passengers and pedestrians that must be a priority. That is why the city of Moscow helps with street inspections, provide online information about the movement of the public transport. Besides, strict rules have been developed to regulate the data transfer concerning the movement of driverless transport, and the interaction of institutions when carrying out pilot projects.

"On the instructions of Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, we are among the first to introduce the latest technologies and services in transport, including Face Pay, a virtual Troika smart card, the city app based on the MaaS principles, and the transition to electric buses. However, it should be understood that there will be no driverless transport boom in the near future, but we believe that urban transport can become the driving force. A driverless tram - this future is realistic. All this is included in Moscow's transport program, and we are waiting for the latest Russian-made solutions and are ready to work with them in the city", - said Maksim Liksutov, the Deputy Mayor for Transport.

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