ROMA – The development of autonomous driving is proceeding in its various forms and not only in the area strictly linked to road traffic. Thanks to a multi-year partnership signed by the Russian tech giant Yandex and the American company active in the field of online food orders GrubHub, a fleet of driverless vehicles will carry out food deliveries to students on university campuses in the United States. Also known as the Google of Russia, Yandex offers a very broad range of services, ranging from advertising to online searches, trucking and ready-to-eat delivery. The company began a series of tests with small autonomous delivery vehicles in 2019 and already operates in a few locations in central Moscow and Ann Arbor, Michigan. “We are delighted to field dozens of our rovers – said Dmitry Polishchuk, CEO of Yandex Self-Driving Group – taking the next step in commercializing our autonomous driving technology in various markets around the world.”
Yandex’s autonomous delivery vehicles will be operational through GrubHub’s platform (which collaborates with over 250 university campuses in the US), and independent delivery will be made available on selected university campuses as early as next fall. While college campuses are notoriously difficult for cars to cross, particularly when it comes to food delivery – said Brian Madigan, vice president of business partners at GrubHub – Yandex vehicles easily access parts of campuses where other vehicles cannot. arrive, effectively removing one of the main obstacles that universities face when implementing new technologies ”. In short, if it will take some time to see self-driving cars circulate freely on roads open to the public, in other sectors, such as deliveries, automated driving has already become an established reality. (mr)
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