Yandex
The firm will introduce its autonomous taxi vehicles next June. Credit: chuttersnap on Unsplash.

Russian internet-related products and services company Yandex has announced plans to test its autonomous vehicles in the US.

The firm will introduce its autonomous taxi service in Detroit as part of the North American International Auto Show, which will be held from 6 to 21 June 2020.

Speaking to Reuters, a company representative said: “The first ten cars will take visitors to the auto show and then they will stay in the US for further testing.”

This fleet will be created through a collaboration with Hyundai Mobis. In March, Yandex teamed up with Hyundai Mobis to develop level four and five autonomous vehicle technologies.

In July, the two firms unveiled their jointly-developed vehicle, based on the Hyundai Sonata 2020 model.

These two firms plan to build autonomous driving kits that automakers and other companies can install in their own vehicles.

Yandex has been working on autonomous vehicle technology since 2016. Russian tech hubs in Skolkovo and Innopolis currently have working test zones that allow autonomous taxi tests.

Towards the end of last year, the Russian firm secured a license to test autonomous vehicles in Israel.

Earlier this year, it displayed driverless cars at the Consumer Electronics Show in the US.

Yandex is now exploring whether to hold an initial public offering of its taxi joint venture with US group Uber Technologies, possibly in Russia and the US.

Meanwhile, in collaboration with Hyundai Mobis, US-based Velodyne LiDAR is set to launch a new lidar-based advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) for autonomous vehicles.

The new ADAS solution combines Velodyne’s lidar technology with Hyundai Mobis’ cognitive software.

Several companies have been working on autonomous vehicles. China-based telecoms company Huawei Technologies has reportedly revealed plans to develop radar for autonomous cars using its 5G technology expertise.

Self-driving vehicle start-up DeepRoute has received an Autonomous Vehicle Testing (AVT) permit to test its fleet in California, US.