He will be able to stop and resume movement on his own, recognizing obstacles
By 2026, Russian Railways plans to launch a completely unmanned train, said the head of the holding, Oleg Belozerov, via video link during the opening ceremony of two objects of the Baikal-Amur Mainline. The unmanned train will be equipped with domestic systems. According to Belozerov, artificial vision and artificial intelligence are already used at level 3 and 3+. With this level of automation, there is a driver in the train cabin, ready to take control if necessary.
«Fourth level — this is when the train can stop on its own, understand that the obstacle has disappeared and continue moving, — Belozerov noted. Such a train should be ready by 2026. Earlier, the head of Russian Railways mentioned that a completely unmanned train would be built on the basis of an import-substituted analogue of the «Lastochka» — ES104 «Finist».
Belozerov also said that there was a shift in plans due to the fact that foreign colleagues stopped interacting with Russian Railways. In the new conditions, it was necessary to replace imports, and now all systems have been replaced and will operate on domestic equipment. In addition, Russian Railways is preparing to launch a partially unmanned «Lastochka» on the Moscow Central Circle already in the summer of 2024.