History of Yandex

Yandex developed its own proprietary weather forecasting technology. Called Meteum, it unites traditional meteorological forecasting models with machine learning technologies — thanks to which it is able to provide local forecasts pinpointing a particular part of a city or even a specific building. The use of machine learning technology significantly increases forecast accuracy. The new technology is used in the Yandex.Weather service.

Yandex’s pay-per-click advertising platform, Yandex.Direct, announced two important developments: adoption of the Vickrey-Clarke-Groves auction system, and a new ranking formula for ads competing within a block. With the new auction system, the price per click rises in proportion to traffic, and advertisers can receive maximum clicks at an optimal price. The change to the ranking formula means that users benefit by seeing advertising that’s more relevant to their individual needs.

This year saw the launch of the Yandex.Parking mobile application for drivers and the Yandex.Radio music service allowing users to find music of different genres and eras, to suit a particular mood or activity. Also released was the beta version of Yandex.Transport — a mobile service that shows the location of buses, trolleybuses and trams and also the time when they will arrive at a stop.

Two services for business began operating: in the summer, the Yandex.Delivery aggregator of logistics services which helps internet stores deliver their goods from Moscow and the Moscow region to all regions of Russia; and in the autumn, a media service which, like an automatic information agency, transmits news about traffic conditions, weather and search interests of users.