Russian technology company Yandex has announced that it is “pausing” testing of autonomous vehicles and sidewalk robots in the United States, the news was first reported by Automotive News.
The company said it was suspending delivery services with Grubhub, its robotaxi fleet in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and its six-wheeled sidewalk robot. “We hope to resume operations in the future,” a spokesperson said.
The news comes as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to send shock waves around the world. The conflict has sparked outrage in the West and led many countries to cut business ties with Russian companies. Russia said on Friday it would block access to Facebook.
The news comes as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to send shock waves around the world.
Yandex began developing self-driving technology in 2016 and conducted its first successful test on snowy roads in Moscow a year later. The company made its international debut at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where people could take its fully autonomous cars (i.e., no one behind the wheel) on public roads. And in 2020, Yandex opened a tech center in Ann Arbor and brought several of its self-driving cars for public road testing.
Meanwhile, the company has begun testing a six-wheeled sidewalk robot delivery service in collaboration with Grubhub on the campuses of Ohio State University and the University of Arizona.
Russia’s aggression in Ukraine has had far-reaching effects on companies with international ambitions like Yandex. For example, Uber accelerated the sale of its stake in its joint venture with Yandex Taxi. Uber, which sold its Russia-based operations to Yandex in 2017, held a 29% stake in the joint venture, which was valued at about $800 million as of the end of 2021.
Uber will also remove executives from Yandex’s board of directors. Uber began selling its stake in Yandex last August, but the process accelerated after the Ukraine invasion.