Interdepartmental differences over the experimental legal regime (ELR) program, under which unmanned vehicles will be tested in Russia, have been resolved. Its release is scheduled for January this year. In this case, the validity period of the ELR is calculated from 20 working days after the date of the issuance of the government act.

Within the framework of the ELR, Yandex may be obliged to transfer data to the state information system indicating the statuses of an unmanned taxi, for example, “busy, with a passenger.” The company will also be required to report administrative violations involving their drones. Control over the experiment is entrusted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Rostransnadzor and regional authorities.

In Moscow, the experimental area will be limited to 18 streets. The drones will also run on the territory of Skolkovo, Innopolis and the Sirius center (Krasnodar Territory). It will be possible to order such a taxi through the Yandex Go application. Later, other companies will be able to join the EPR project.

In early September 2021, Yandex announced the start of testing an unmanned taxi in Moscow. Later, ANO Digital Economy approved Yandex’s application for testing drones in Moscow as part of ELR.