Mobility

Russia to launch self-driving tram and vessel experiments

September 27, 2020

Several ministries of the Russian Federation, including The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Economic Development, as well as the Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport (Rosmorrechflot) supported the draft government decree on conducting an experiment on the operation of self-driving vessels. According to the …

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Yandex and Uber form dedicated company for self-driving business

September 6, 2020

Yandex and Uber yesterday announced agreements to spin off their self-driving vehicle business from Yandex.Taxi, the taxi-hailing and food tech joint venture they formed three years ago. The spin-off, dubbed ‘Yandex Self Driving Group B.V.’ or ‘Yandex SDG,’ will be directly owned by Yandex and Uber.  The NASDAQ-listed Russian Internet giant will invest $150 million in the new company, on …

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Mail.Ru and Sberbank inject $160 million in their foodtech and mobility JV

November 12, 2020

Last week Mail.ru Group, the LSE-listed Russian Internet major, and Sberbank, the state-controlled financial and technology giant, announced a capital injection of 12 billion rubles (approximately $160 million) to develop their ‘O2O’ joint venture. Agreed in June last year, this JV combines the businesses of the two groups across a variety of fields, from ride-hailing …

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Russian entrepreneur brings social distancing to bus transportation

November 12, 2020

With COVID-19 wreaking havoc with transportation worldwide, a Russian entrepreneur, Denis Sverdlov, has proposed innovative, and eco-friendly, solutions for our transit crisis. Sverdlov is the founder of the British-based company Arrival. Already the talk of the town in the electric-vehicle business, the firm has designed public transport buses, that not only promise to lower our …

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Sberbank to increase its hold on top media group Rambler

July 29, 2020

Sberbank, Russia’s state-controlled financial and tech behemoth, plans to increase its share of Rambler Group, a major online media and entertainment group. Following the acquisition of a 46.5% stake in August last year, Sberbank is now preparing for an additional investment “to ensure the group’s absolute leadership in the market.” The investment is set to total 2 …

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Moscow subway to deploy facial recognition surveillance system

November 12, 2020

The subway cars working in the Moscow Metro will soon be equipped with facial recognition systems, reports the BBC Russian Service. According to a tender announced on July 9, the Moscow Mayor’s Office is spending 1.4 billion rubles (more than $19.7 million) on the purchase of the necessary surveillance cameras and specialized software. The first stage …

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Yandex fired a taxi driver for refusing an African passenger. Then a campaign defending the driver appeared on Twitter.

November 12, 2020

On June 9, the online ride-sharing service “Yandex.Taxi” fired a driver from Bryansk, who refused to pick up a Black student from Congo. The incident sparked criticism of the Internet company on social media, with the hashtag #яндекскуколд (in English, “Yandex is a cuckold”) becoming a top trending topic on Twitter in Russia. Many users …

Yandex fired a taxi driver for refusing an African passenger. Then a campaign defending the driver appeared on Twitter. Read More

Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman lost $27 million in Uber investment

November 12, 2020

LetterOne (L1), an international investment group controlled by Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman, sold its stake in Uber for $173 million in February last year. The transaction was made public in the group’s 2019 financial report, as reported by RBC. LetteOne had purchased this stake for $200 million in 2016, presenting the deal as “strategic investment.” Fridman …

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Deepfake video of Elon Musk singing Soviet space song appears after successful ‘SpaceX’ launch

June 5, 2020

With the successful launch of the Crew Dragon capsule, Elon Musk’s space travel company SpaceX sent its first astronauts to the International Space Station on May 30. To celebrate the occasion, Russian Internet users released a clever deepfake video of Musk singing “Grass at Home,” a famous song by the Soviet rock band “Zemlyane” (“Earthlings”). Russia’s state space corporation, Roscosmos, …

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Russia’s Yandex.Taxi’s IPO still on, as it struggles to stay profitable

November 12, 2020

Yandex.Taxi, the ride-hailing arm of Russian online giant Yandex, is pushing ahead with its plans to organise its highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO), while struggling to remain profitable amidst the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Earlier this month, Yandex.Taxi CEO Tigran Khudaverdyan was quoted by The Bell as saying that the company has not abandoned plans to …

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EBRD provides rescue financing to Travelata and other Russian portfolio companies

April 10, 2020

The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has provided finances to a Russian company for the first time in more than five years under its emergency coronavirus support fund. The EBRD stopped making active investments in the country in 2014, following Western sanctions stemming from the events in Ukraine and Crimea. The group has also wound …

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