Last year Yandex and Hyundai entered a partnership in which Hyundai would produce the “hardware”, aka the vehicle, for the 4th and 5th generation Yandex self-driving vehicles, and this week the relationship has come to it’s first fruition.
Using the Hyundai Sonata (not a car we’re overly familiar with in England) as the choice model, Yandex’s autonomous self-driving cars can potentially reach up to 124-miles-per-hour (120mph in the 1.6ltr version).
The first unmanned Hyundai Sonata has already begun testing in Moscow and by the end of the year, the Yandex fleet will be closer to 100.
Some of them will be used in the unmanned taxi service in Innopolis, a village in the Verkhneuslonsky District of the Republic of Tatarstan, and some will join the company’s fleet in the United States.
The electronic control units have been modified by Mobis for more efficient interaction with Yandex unmanned control technology. Originally created for use in a car under human control, they were modified to meet the challenges and characteristics of autonomous driving.
Yandex engineers significantly improved the set of sensors. There are more cameras, cameras with different focal lengths appeared. Radars are now located on the roof and allow the system to distinguish even more cars. Front wing lidars can even better “see” pedestrians and vehicles in a limited side view.
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Header image credit: Yandex’s blog announcement