-  Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Russian tech company, Yandex announced that it is considering expanding its autonomous fleet to up to 1,000 within the next two years.

According to Automotive News Europe, the company hopes to start testing more than 100 of its self-driving cars on roads by next year. With a fleet of 90 cars already, 35 are being tested on Moscow’s roads and monitored by a Yandex engineer.

HSBC bank reported in January that Yandex’s driving software put it on par with Google’s Waymo.

Yandex has yet to disclose how much has been invested in self-driving technology, but reports from Dmitry Polishchuk, head of Yandex’s self-driving car division, said a single car costs $6.5 million rubles ($98,000). Down from the first prototype which cost the company $9.5 million to build.

Yandex started testing its autonomous technology in 2016 and tested its first cars in 2017.  The company also obtained its license to operate self-driving cars in Israel last year. The cars are being tested in Skolkovo and Innopolis tech parks in Russia, Automotive News Europe reports.

In addition, Polishchuk told Automotive News Europe that the company is looking into the possibility testing vehicles in the U.S., where he believes the legislation is most progressive.

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