Transportation

Yandex Debuts Automated Driving Prototypes Based On Hyundai Sonata


It seems that any company that is a leading internet search engine in its respective market, must also be developing automated driving (AD) technology. Following on the heels of the Google self-driving car project that eventually morphed into Waymo, both China’s Baidu
BIDU
and Russia’s Yandex
YNDX
have AD efforts of their own. Yandex which launched its AD program in 2016 is now launching its fourth-generation development platform in partnership with South Korea’s Hyundai Mobis. 

Until now, Yandex has mainly used the Toyota Prius V as its development platform, but its new fleet will be using the latest-generation Hyundai Sonata. Hyundai Mobis is the portion of the Hyundai conglomerate that focuses on producing vehicle components, especially electronic systems including sensors and control units. 

Hyundai worked closely with Yandex on the hardware integration into the Sonata. This includes installation of an upgraded sensor suite, a new compute platform and upgraded electrical system. Unlike most AD programs that utilize either hybrid or battery electric vehicle platforms, Yandex did not use the new Sonata hybrid. The electrified Sonata is not sold in the Russian market and has not been homologated for use there. The cars used by Yandex have higher output alternators in order to meet the power requirements of the AD system.  The Sonata was selected to because it provides a more premium experience for passengers than the current fleet of Toyota Prius Vs.

Changes to the sensor suite start with three additional cameras, bringing the total to nine. The new cameras have varying focal lengths to provide different detection ranges and field of view. The radar system has also been reconfigured. There are six total radar sensors with four now being mounted in the rooftop sensor housing. There are two forward-facing and two rear-facing radars. Two additional radar units are in the fender-housings along with a lidar and camera. 

The lidar configuration is similar to the third-generation Priuses, but the two fender mounted units have been repositioned to provide a wider field of view that overlaps across the front of the car. The single rooftop lidar still provides the long-range 360 degree field of view while the sensor in the grille is angled down to provide a clear view directly in front of the vehicle. Yandex has also been developing its own in-house lidar sensors that are claimed to be lower cost, but those are not yet being utilized on this fleet. 

Another important addition to the new generation AD hardware stack is sensor cleaning systems. When operating in inclement weather, automated vehicles need to be able to keep all of their sensors clean in order to see the world around the vehicle. In environments like Moscow and Michigan that get everything from winter road salt spray to summertime insect strikes, sensors can easily become obscured, a problem that Tesla
TSLA
has yet to address even though it sells a “full self-driving” package on all of its vehicles. 

The compute platform has been repackaged to minimize the intrusion on trunk space, making this vehicle more practical for providing taxi services. Yandex is using a mix of Intel
INTC
Xeon CPUs and undefined GPUs, most likely from Nvidia
NVDA

According to Yandex spokeswoman, Yulia Sheyko, despite the additional capabilities of the new AD hardware, the cost has been cut in half since the previous generation cars were built in 2018. Yandex has so far assembled five of the new Sonatas and plans to have 100 built this year. In addition to the development program in Russia, Israel, South Korea and Michigan, the Sonatas will be utilized in Yandex’s Robotaxi pilot in Innopolis, Russia. 

Yandex conducted fully automated demonstration rides without safety drivers on the streets of Las Vegas during the 2020 CES which I experienced. While the chosen route was in an area of town with relatively light traffic, the system worked reliably and never required the safety operator in the passenger seat to disable the system. Interestingly, the car had a more aggressive driving style than most AVs I’ve ridden in which was attributed to being tuned to survive among the drivers of Moscow and Tel Aviv. For a relative latecomer to the AV sector having launched in just 2016, Yandex has made impressive progress.



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