MOSCOW, August 12. /TASS/. Siberian students have put together a self-driving hearse from a Lada Kalina model automobile, capable of travelling at a speed up to 5-km per hour, the NTI’s (National Technological Initiative) Autonet research and technology organization told TASS on Monday.

"The project was submitted to the NTI Autonet by a team of Siberian student-developers. It was forwarded to be fine-tuned with vital adjustments. Funding for it is not on the horizon. Their automobile currently travels at a speed up to 5 km per hour. They will find a use for it as a funeral vehicle, to transport the dead to cemeteries," Autonet said.

The students will be offered advice from skilled professionals who have designed highly automated transport, the organization noted. "We hope the students’ project from Siberia will manage to beef up the cruising speed of their project, thereby finding a different use for it," Autonet spokesman Yaroslav Fedoseev says. "Robotic technologies are already used in moving passengers, street and road cleaning equipment and for warehousing goods. I am confident the funeral business will also undergo high-tech changes in the future," he added.

About NTI Autonet

The National Technological Initiative (NTI) is a government program of measures to ramp up Russia’s global technology leadership by 2035. The program consists of 11 areas, including the Autonet market, with a working team set up to develop it.