Almost a year ago we started our discussions with the Israeli Ministry of Transportation (IMOT) to launch our self-driving car in Tel Aviv. We were excited at the opportunity to expand our testing outside Russia in an environment with new challenges such as different driving norms, a large number of two-wheeled vehicles, and the sweltering Mediterranean climate.

By December 2018, we were thrilled to announce we received a permit to start testing in Israel. Soon after, our team started testing in Tel Aviv. Our collaboration with IMOT proved to be an incredibly critical step to ensure our vehicles and operations were equipped to run on the local streets safely.

During the first phase of testing, we successfully operated in the northern neighborhoods of Tel Aviv. These neighborhoods provided an opportunity to safely test several critical real-world driving dynamics in Israel and experience various common scenarios. We operated our vehicles daily, safely navigating roundabouts, two-wheeled vehicles, local infrastructure and unique driving behaviors. This phase helped better establish our self-driving cars in the new environment.

Yielding at the speed of 50 mph on a highway in Northern of Tel Aviv

Today, we are excited to share some details from the more recent advancements in our testing in Israel. IMOT granted Yandex permission to operate our testing in a more demanding environment. We have entered the busiest part of Tel Aviv, the city center otherwise known by Israelis as the “urban jungle,” where unpredictable road behavior occurs far more frequently.

According to stats from TomTom, Moscow ranks as the world’s 5th most congested city and Tel Aviv ranks 19th. The diversity on the roads between the two locations provides highly challenging driving conditions in crowded areas that ultimately improve our technology on many fronts.

By starting to test in a busier area of Tel Aviv, our cars regularly face multiple jaywalkers, lane-weaving motorcycles, and narrower roads due to double-parked vehicles. Drivers in the area also commonly pull u-turns and run lights to cut through the heavy traffic.

Jaywalking in the center of Tel Aviv

The increasing popularity of micromobility is also driving more activity of two-wheeled vehicles in busy neighborhoods. E-scooters challenges drivers and our self-driving car to react to dynamic behaviors that alternate between riding on the roads and sidewalks depending on the best options to cut through traffic.

Two-wheelers on the streets of the city center

These dynamics on the road are actively elevating how well our self-driving cars perform. Real-world challenges in hectic environments ultimately improve our entire fleet. Though locals say that our cars are the most polite drivers in the whole city, we need to train our vehicles to more assertively navigate traffic while still balancing safety and traffic laws. At times, a timid driving approach can cause more problems on the road than a bolder driving maneuver.

“The most challenging part of self-driving technology is predicting human behavior,” explains Dmitry Polishchuk, Head of Yandex Self-Driving. “It’s easier to drive when traffic is light and almost everyone nearby is following the traffic rules. As soon as the traffic gets heavier, drivers change their behavior, violating rules more often and the entire situation on the road becomes less and less predictable. We are learning to better deal with these dynamics now to prepare for these kinds of challenges wherever they happen next.”

The current phase of testing is a critical step in development. By the end of 2019, we will expand our fleet in Israel to ten vehicles to increase the total distance driven and contribute even more data to our software. All new cars are the next generation of Yandex self-driving vehicles with upgraded software and hardware that is helping deliver an even smoother driving experience.

Looking back at the last year, we have made significant progress together with IMOT and the local tech community. Looking ahead, we are excited to expand our fleet and continue our testing in an increasingly challenging environment.