What the Little Lion can do: some highlights about Russia’s debut unmanned tram

Drivers refer to the Little Lion-Moscow tram as their brother, comrade and assistant as it is really hard to think of it as just a means of transport. The vision of such a tram is like that of a lion because it can see even in the dark; it can also distinguish colors and can calculate the distance to things. It is also capable of reaching speeds of up to 60 kilometers per hour and stop quickly and smoothly if there is an obstacle in front of it.

In May 2024, the unmanned tram left the Krasnopresnensky depot, where it had been tested, for its maiden service as it was piloted on Route No. 10, to run between Kulakov Street and Shchukinskaya metro station. For now, it is backed tram drivers, carrying passengers who won the competition. As soon as late 2025, the tram will begin to autonomously carry everyone who wants along Moscow’s streets, although a test driver or another employee may be present in the passenger compartment or cabin to monitor the movement and perform other functions.

Mos.ru journalists took a ride on board the Little Lion and visited the Center for Advanced Development of Moscow Transport, where they create software for it. Here is an account of why the city needs such technology, how the tram’s ‘eyes’ are designed, and what lidars are used for.

High-precision maps and sensors

The dark blue tram known as the Little Lion-Moscow and bearing a sign “This is an unmanned tram” approached the final stop on Tvardovsky Street (bld. 2), driving smoothly and decisively, so it is hard to believe that no one controls it.

“The driverless tram has three groups of sensors that let it see and analyze the situation on the roads. The first group includes lidars; they are devices with laser beams that quickly rotate 360 degrees, reflecting surrounding stuff and calculating the distance from them to the tram body. The second group is that of cameras; they can identify outlines and colors. The third group consists of radars that determine the speed of objects and work well in various weather conditions. If an abnormal situation occurs in front of the tram, for example, an accident on the tracks, it will read sensor data and will immediately stop smoothly and safely. In addition, its software contains highly accurate route maps with information about road signs and restrictions established in accordance with traffic regulations, thereby eliminating errors,” says Roman Khikhin, Senior Project Manager at the Unmanned Transport R&D Center.

The doors opened silently for us to board. While piloted, it has a dashboard with monitors in the center; so, the test engineer can read the sensors. We saw a cloud of points on the screen, which were transmitted in real time by four lidars placed outside along the cabin, cars, pedestrians, rails, trees, poles, and buildings. In fact, several types of sensors are needed to get an overall picture; for example, with the help of cameras, the tram recognizes traffic lights and decides when it can start moving.

The unmanned tram travels back and forth along the route five to six times a day, a full 12-kilometer-long circle taking 40 minutes.

We entered the cabin, similar to that of a regular tram, although with a Turn On Autopilot button and a screen on the left to display what the Little Lion is seeing. A test driver was sitting there for now, but he was only observing and was not involved in the controls.

“During the entire testing period, I never had to take over control. The tram can see better than I do in any weather and responds to changes much faster. Human resources are limited; machine resources are not. It can run 24 hours a day without a break for lunch or sleep; it never gets tired and is never in a bad mood. Only once a day the Little Lion has to go to the depot for a technical inspection. I treat it like a younger brother whom I teach,” says test driver Vitaly Panenko.

How they ‘teach’ the Little Lion

The Little Lion came into existence at the Center for Advanced Development of Moscow Transport in Kuntsevo. It was established in May 2024 to settle in a glass futuristic building whose design alluding to engineering and machine building. It consists of several divisions, including the Unmanned Transport R&D Center.

“Here we develop turnkey software for the unmanned tram, test and improve it. You could say we are teaching the Little Lion to navigate the city streets, programming its ‘brain.’ We also design fasteners for lidars, cameras, and radars. The tram is delivered from the factory without built-in AI and sensors; it is designed the same as any other controlled by a driver. To turn it into an unmanned vehicle, we have to equip it with special devices; which is what we are doing,” explains Pavel Boksha, Chair of the Unmanned Transport R&D Center.

We entered the lab where a 3D printer was printing plastic parts of lidar fasteners. “The process takes up to 10 hours,” the center’s engineers explain. The Little Lion we met has all the necessary devices, but there will be other trams, too. By 2030, the tram fleet will be largely driverless, meanwhile lab staff are setting up smart equipment before installing them on board the tram. They are calibrating the sensors using special devices, for example, using corner reflectors, devices consisting of three mutually perpendicular flat reflective surfaces, for radars. At another stand, lidars and cameras were adjusted on a so-called calibration board with specially shaped geometric figures. Cameras and lidars were simultaneously pointed at the stand to check how clearly the sensors’ coordinate systems match — whether they could see figures at the same distance. If the sensors perceive space and objects differently, the tram would go astray.

“The full launch of unmanned trams on the streets of the capital will eliminate unpunctuality in traffic caused by the human factor and will make passenger trips more comfortable,” says Pavel Boksha.

From a driverless tram to virtual Troika Travel Cards

While the Little Lion is getting ready for a driverless life, the Center for Advanced Development of Moscow Transport is creating new fare pay options. At the payment card-testing laboratory, one can see obsolete and cutting-edge ticket vending machines, turnstiles with facial recognition cameras, and validators for the Moscow Central Diameters (MCDs), programmers using the devices to test their inventions.

One innovation has been in effect since May; so, today passengers do not need to place their Troika Travel Cards on the yellow terminal to activate remote card top up.

“We came to the conclusion that both turnstiles and validators in public transport have readers that are capable of reading and verifying Troika data. We need just to slightly adjust them. Now passengers do not have to waste extra time activating the card after topping up as everything happens automatically,” says Guseyn Rimikhanov, Director of IT and Innovation, Center for Advanced Development of Moscow Transport.

Another recently introduced innovation is virtual Troika Travel Cards. “Such a card can be issued on the Moscow Metro app”. To do this, you need to select a ticket from the fare menu and link your bank card. To use a virtual Troika in the metro, MCC, MCDs or river transport, a passenger just needs to hold the phone screen with the active QR code close to the turnstile reader. In ground transport, you will need to scan the QR code on the validator screen with your phone camera. This is really convenient because no plastic medium is required,” explains Guseyn Rimikhanov.

The center’s developers do not stop where they are as now they are improving the Multitransport service.

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