Yandex Taxi (Russian: Яндекс Такси, romanized: Yandeks Taksi; stylised as Yandex.Taxi), a division of Yandex, operates a ridesharing company in Russia, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and UAE.[2] The Yandex Taxi division also operates Yandex Eda, a food delivery service; Yandex.Lavka, a grocery delivery service;[3][4] and Yandex.Chef, previously known as Partiya Edy (Russian: "Food Party"), a meal kit service.[5][6] All services are accessible via the Yandex Go mobile app.
The company is the dominant ridesharing company in the markets in which it operates; it had an 86.3% market share in Uzbekistan in 2023.[7]
There have been concerns that the government of Russia may be able to access user data, including data from outside Russia.
History
Yandex.Taxi was launched in Moscow, Russia in 2011.[8]
The service was first introduced as a mobile app for Android and iOS, and a desktop version was launched on 28 June 2012.[9]
In 2012, Yandex.Taxi started charging a commission on rides booked through its service.[8]
Tigran Khudaverdyan became CEO of Yandex Taxi in 2015. On May 22, 2019, Yandex announced the appointment of Tigran Khudaverdyan to the newly created position of Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Yandex.[10]
In 2020, Yandex.Taxi was reportedly developing AI-infused proprietary hardware and software for its vehicles that monitors drivers’ attention levels, as well as a facial recognition system that determines the identity of the person behind the wheel.[11]
In April 2022, Yandex.Taxi was banned in Estonia due to the Russian government's requirement that it share users' personal data with the government. Estonia encouraged other EU countries to sanction the company as well.[12]
In November 2022, Yandex launched shared rides for users from Moscow and St. Petersburg. The trip can be shared with a fellow traveler if you select the "Together" option in the Yandex Go application.[13]
In August 2021, Yandex acquired Uber's stake its self-driving car division and food delivery business in a $1 billion transaction.[15][16]
In April 2023, Yandex Taxi acquired Uber's stake in the taxi joint venture for $702.5 million.[17]
Food tech division
Food delivery men
In December 2017, Yandex.Taxi acquired Foodfox, a food delivery service in Moscow.[18] After the merge of Uber and Yandex.Taxi in March 2018, Uber Eats and Foodfox combined their services to become Yandex Eda.
In February 2018, the Yandex Eats food delivery service was launched.[19][20]
In October 2018, Yandex acquired Partiya Edy ("Food Party"), a meal kit service that operates in Moscow and St. Petersburg, which was renamed Yandex.Chef.[21]
By December 2018, the company had completed 1 million food delivery orders.[22]
In 2019, Yandex Eats launched a grocery delivery services called Yandex Lavka that delivers to customers in under 15 minutes.[5] The online service relies on small warehouses across Moscow and St. Petersburg stocked with about 2,000 items and uses bike couriers to deliver orders.[6]
Autonomous taxis
CES 2019Self-driving car from Yandex is being tested in real traffic.
Note: The self-driving car division was separated into Avride. See that article for better information
In June 2017, Yandex.Taxi released a video demonstrating its driverless car technology.[23] The prototype vehicle was a Toyota Prius hybrid hatchback equipped with an Nvidia GTX graphics processor and a LiDAR optical distance sensor by Velodyne.[24]
Yandex has developed its own autonomous driverless cars for use as taxis. The first model available to the public is a heavily modified Toyota Prius with three lidar units, six radar units, and six cameras and a GNSS sensor for navigation, with IntelCPUs and NVIDIAGPUs using a Linux operating system.[25] In November 2017, Yandex released a video of its AV winter tests, in which the car drove successfully along snowy roads of Moscow.[26]
On 29 May 2018, free demo rides were offered to the public at Yet Another Conference. Yandex reported that 700 passengers were given rides through the 10 hours of the demo.[27] In June 2018, a Yandex driverless car completed a long-distance test ride in fully autonomous mode, traveling 780 km in about 11 hours.[28]
Yandex's robo-taxi service was launched in trial mode in August 2018 in the university town of Innopolis in the Republic of Tatarstan. Service was free during this trial, and a Yandex engineer occupied the front passenger seat as a safety observer while the driver's seat remained empty.[citation needed] In November 2018, it was reported that the company had given its 1000th self-driving passenger ride.[25] In February 2020, it was reported that over 5,000 autonomous passenger rides were made in Innopolis.[29]
The Yandex driverless car was presented to the international public at the CES 2019 innovation conference in Las Vegas.[30] At the end of 2018, Yandex obtained a license[31] to use these vehicles on public roads in Nevada, one of the few American states where driverless cars are allowed. Unlike other prototypes demonstrated at the exhibition, the cars were circulating the streets of the city without any human control. In January 2020 Yandex provided autonomous rides for CES guests for the second time.[32]
In December 2018, the company got a permission from the Israeli Transportation Ministry to test its driverless car on public roads without a human safety driver at the wheel. This makes Israel the third country where the company was testing its self-driving vehicle.[33]
In March 2019, Yandex and Hyundai signed an agreement to work on autonomous car systems.[34] The aim was to develop a platform for autonomous vehicles for level 4 and level 5, the categories of automation defined as requiring limited to no human intervention.[35] In July 2019 Hyundai Mobis and Yandex presented the self-driving Hyundai Sonata 2020 as the first result of their collaboration.[36]
In October 2019 Yandex announced that its self-driving cars had passed 1 million miles in fully autonomous driving since it started testing the technology.[37] In February 2020, Yandex doubled its mileage with 2 million miles passed.[38]
On October 22, 2019, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) selected Yandex and four other providers of highly automated vehicles for the 2020 NAIAS Michigan Mobility Challenge.[39] Ten Yandex self-driving sedans will provide public rides in downtown Detroit during the Autoshow in June 2020.[40]
In November 2019, the company presented its autonomous delivery robot Yandex.Rover, based on the same self-driving technology the company is using for its autonomous cars. As part of the initial testing phase, a fleet of Yandex.Rover is operating on the Yandex campus in Moscow, transporting small packages from one building to another.[41]
In December 2019 Yandex introduced two lidars that it designed in-house. One is a solid state lidar with a 120-degree field of vision and the second is a rotating one that provides a 360-degree view of its surroundings. The company claims that using its own lidars will help Yandex save up to 75% on the cost of sensors, which are currently one of the most expensive parts of an autonomous vehicle. Yandex's lidars are deployed in its test fleet in and around Moscow.[42]
In March 2020, Yandex announced plans to launch a worldwide fleet of robotaxis using its driverless car software within the next few years, with a licence to begin testing in the United States from June 2020.[43]
Global expansion
As of 2022, Yandex.Taxi operates in more than 1,000 cities, include 300 large cities in Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Uzbekistan, Serbia. In addition to the taxi service, in some countries, Yandex.Taxi operates food tech, food delivery and cargo platforms.
Belarus
The service launched on 25 February 2016.[44] It started in Minsk, but now operates in all six regional centers and multiple cities in the country. In March 2019 the service introduced an insurance product for riders and drivers connected to the service.[45]
Armenia
Operating in 15 of its cities, Yandex.Taxi has one of its most visible presences in Armenia. It started operating in Yerevan on 1 July 2016.[46] In 2017, the service sponsored a computer programming school for high schoolers in Gyumri and Vanadzor.[47]
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan is one of the biggest international markets for Yandex.Taxi. Launched in the biggest city Almaty on 28 July 2016,[48] Yandex.Taxi was serving 20 cities by September 2018. On 3 September 2018, Yandex.Taxi introduced an insurance product for riders and drivers connected to the service.[49] Yandex.Taxi also provides corporate taxi services in Kazakhstan. In 2020 Kazakhstan became the first foreign market for the Yandex.Eats food delivery service.[50]
Georgia
The launch in Georgia on 28 August 2016[51] was accompanied by scandals pertaining to another Yandex service, Yandex.Maps. The Russian version of Yandex.Maps marks the territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent countries[52] while Georgian law defines these territories as parts of Georgia. Given that Yandex.Maps wasn't localized for Georgia, everyone saw only the Russian version. Yandex.Taxi marked these territories to comply with Georgian law, unlike Yandex. Maps. Despite the update fact, many locals boycotted the new service. Yandex.Taxi continued operations and still works in present day, adding two more cities to its Georgian network: Batumi and Rustavi.[53]
Moldova
Yandex.Taxi launched in Chișinău on 24 July 2017.[54] In 2020 it expanded to the city of Bălți.[55]
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan is the second country in Central Asia in which Yandex began to operate. Yandex.Taxi was launched on 9 November 2017 in Bishkek,[56] then later in Osh.
Just after the Lithuanian launch of Yandex.Taxi on 26 July 2018, the country's authorities warned citizens against using the service in order to protect their personal data.[60] Lithuania's National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) highlighted that "it is especially important that this app isn’t used on the devices of Lithuanian civil servants, officials, or national defense system employees."[61] Yandex.Taxi responded that it "processes and stores EU user data strictly according to EU regulations, GDPR in particular," and that the service is "open and ready for any necessary checks."[62] Despite the NCSC's accusations, authorities from two other Baltic states — Latvia and Estonia — did not speak out against Yandex.Taxi.[63]
Lithuanian authorities did not ultimately impose restrictions on the service, and Yandex.Taxi works in the capital city of Vilnius and Kaunas.
Yandex Taxi launched in the Estonian capital Tallinn on 1 May 2018.[64] On April 11, 2022, Yandex Taxi was banned in Estonia due to the Russian government's collection of user data.[12] Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and IT and foreign trade minister Andres Sutt said the move related to national security, given that Yandex requires the provision of personal data which would be held in Russia and which Russian security services, including the FSB, have the ability to access, following a decision in Russia.
Latvia
Latvia was the first Baltic country and the first EU member where Yandex.Taxi started operations. It launched on 15 March 2018,[65] is left in March 2022.[66]
Revenue and profitability
The Yandex Taxi division became profitable in fall 2018.[67][68][69][70]
For 2019, the Yandex Taxi division posted revenues of nearly RUB 38 billion, an increase of 97% from the previous year.[71]
In 2023, Yandex Taxi revenue increased 30.3% to 149.6 billion rubles and net profit rose 21.6% to 31.9 billion rubles.[72]
Concerns
Privacy concerns
There have been concerns that the government of Russia may be able to access user data, including data from outside Russia.[73]
In July 2018, Lithuanian authorities warned the app could be collecting users' personal data.[74][75]
In September 2024, The Personal Data Protection Service of Georgia reported that the company's division in Georgia illegally transferred the personal data of its Georgian users of its services to Russia and fined the company GEL 4000.[76][77]
Yandex and US sanctions
On 29 January 2018[78] the United States Treasury Department issued a report listing senior political figures and oligarchs in Russia who are reportedly closely linked to the Russian government and hold certain political power. Yandex founder Arkadiy Volozh was named along with 95 Russian businessmen. The list was revealed to have been copied from the list of Russians on the 2017 Forbes billionaires list.[79][80] Arkadiy Volozh has not been included in any country's list of personal or business sanctions.
Sharing user data with police
In February 2020, Russian news website Baza reported that Yandex.Taxi had disclosed the travel history of an investigative journalist to Moscow police without a court order.[81] The company responded that it was legally compelled to hand over the data under Russia's “operative-search activities” law, which does not require a court decision to request ride histories.[82]
