Earlier this week, we announced that our in-car infotainment system, Yandex.Auto, will ship with millions of new Renault, Nissan, AVTOVAZ/LADA vehicles in Russia. This expansion will build on the hundreds of thousands of cars that already integrate Yandex.Auto to provide more drivers with an easy and safe way to access their favorite Yandex services.
Today, we’re excited to share that by the end of the year we will be rolling out a new version of Yandex.Auto that will offer an enhanced connected car experience with more smart functionalities for managing driving tasks and controlling the vehicle.
Yandex.Auto will automate many routine driving tasks to make driving as simple as possible. A parking feature will detect when drivers have parked in a paid area and Yandex.Auto will automatically add time to the meter if it expires. Yandex.Auto will save parking spot locations as well, so drivers can easily use their smartphones to find their car. By establishing deeper integration with the vehicle, Yandex.Auto will also maintain the vehicle’s location in areas with limited reception, such as tunnels.
The new version of Yandex.Auto will provide more options for users to control the vehicle with their smartphones and our intelligent assistant, Alice. Drivers will be able to ask Alice to lock and unlock the doors, control the windows, start the engine, and open the trunk through Yandex.Auto. For instance, users will be able to remotely ask Alice to start the car and turn on the climate controls.
“Technology is making driving easier and safer,” says Roman Chernin, Head of Yandex Geolocations Services. “As drivers turn to automation and voice-control to use their cars, vehicles are coming to resemble tech like smartphones and computers. With the new Yandex.Auto, we’re taking a major step towards the next generation of connected cars. The updates coming later this year will automate many tasks for drivers, such as paying for parking. We strive to provide our users with the safest driving experience, and the new version of Yandex.Auto helps us realize this vision.”
Various new Toyota, Nissan, Renault, and Chery models have Yandex.Auto preinstalled, in addition to almost 10,000 vehicles in our car sharing fleet, Yandex.Drive. Owners of select models from carmakers such as Volkswagen, Škoda, and Hyundai can also replace the factory-standard infotainment system with an aftermarket Yandex.Auto solution.
With the purchase of a head unit, drivers can have Yandex.Auto installed on compatible cars at authorized service centers for free. For the first six months, Yandex provides unlimited data for Yandex apps and services within the Yandex.Auto platform, and 1 GB per month for third-party services. Yandex.Auto also comes with a free six-month subscription to Yandex.Music.
For more information about Yandex.Auto visit auto.yandex.