Yandex.Rover

2025

The maintenance of one Yandex courier robot costs 295 thousand rubles a year. This is 50% less than the salaries of delivery people

Analysts Sovcombank based on the data of the company "" Yandex for 2025 came to the conclusion about the economic efficiency (robots suppliers rovers) compared to foot couriers: according to the report, the annual cost of maintaining one device is 295 thousand. rubles This is 49-66% less than the cost of paying a human courier. The results of the study were published by "" in Sheets January 2026.

According to the report, 58% of the rover's cost structure is for repair and replacement of parts, 42% is for wages for operators and engineers. For comparison, the annual costs of a courier in Moscow and St. Petersburg are estimated at 878 thousand rubles, and in small regional cities - 574 thousand rubles.

The year of operation of the courier robot costs Yandex 295 thousand rubles. Savings against live delivery - 50%

The capitalization of the Yandex robotic delivery service, according to Sovcombank estimates, increased from 42 billion rubles. in 2024 to 71.8 billion rubles. by the first half of 2025. This estimate is based on comparisons with foreign counterparts such as Starship Technologies and Kiwibot. The cost of one rover is approximately $10 thousand. Fleet management requires one operator per 12 devices and one engineer per 24 devices.

The cost-effectiveness of robots is achieved in large cities with high order density and expensive labor. With a load level of more than 80% and at distances of up to 2 km, rovers become especially profitable. Performance is boosted by new multi-bay models: they can deliver more orders in a single route.

Yandex announced plans to scale the project. By 2027, the company intends to release up to 20 thousand new generation robots, reducing their cost to $8 thousand. This will partially compensate for the shortage of couriers and reduce delivery costs, turning this direction into a significant source of business growth.^[1]

Yandex is preparing an army of thousands of courier robots - on wheels and bipedals. PHOTO

Yandex plans to significantly expand the fleet of its autonomous delivery robots by releasing them at its own production at an accelerated pace, and is also developing and working on the possibility of using humanoid robots in delivery processes. The company spoke about this on October 23, 2025 at its first conference on the use of AI in the physical world, which TAdviser attended.

So far, Yandex delivery robots work only in Moscow

In a year, Yandex plans to produce 1.3 thousand delivery robots per month, and by the end of 2027 to release a total of 20 thousand new generation robots. The company expects that this will help its own services and partner companies solve the problem of a shortage of couriers and reduce the cost of delivery.

Starting in 2019, as of the fall of 2025, Yandex delivery robots, serving, for example, services such as Yandex Food and Yandex Lavka, only plow Moscow streets. About 200 such devices are involved. For example, they can be seen in the Moscow City area or in the area of ​ ​ Yandex headquarters in Khamovniki. And now it is planned to release delivery robots on the streets of other cities - to start St. Petersburg and Kazan, as well as expand its presence in Moscow.

With the launch of mass production of courier robots, there will be more on the streets of Moscow, and they will also appear in other cities

Yandex notes that the e-commerce and e-grocery markets in Russia are growing very quickly. Thus, Evgeny Nikulin, head of the Yandex Lavka courier logistics service, cited data that in terms of the number of orders from their direction, the growth is three times compared to 2024, and now the company uses about 80 delivery robots. By the end of 2025, Yandex Lavka expects to overcome the mark of 300 thousand delivered orders. And the expansion of robot production is expected to allow it to maintain an even more dynamic growth rate: in 2026, the company expects to grow 20 times compared to 2025 and overcome the 6 million order mark using 2 thousand robots.

As Marat Mavlyutov, head of the department of autonomous delivery robots at Yandex, notes, people are increasingly wanting to save their time, but at the same time there are much more those who want to order something than those who want to deliver. This creates a big challenge for business and for the market as a whole: "The lack of couriers slows down business growth." However, the problem can be solved: "Robots can be created as much as necessary."

Human resources are always limited and expensive. Only robots can scale to infinity, - said Marat Mavlyutov.

A redesigned and improved model of a courier robot has been launched into mass production

Actually, the forces of Yandex were thrown at this: at the conference, the company announced that mass production had already been launched. The current model of the Yandex delivery robot is designated R 4.0, and it has been completely redesigned for pipeline assembly. Key features have been improved. For example, new sensors are installed that allow him to see 100 meters around him: this way he can move more smoothly and predictably for pedestrians.

And the key feature is that now the device has modern processors that allow you to use the latest generation of AI, such as in Alice or in Yandex search.

"Making a robot better than a person" is a very non-trivial task, the company notes. And Yandex is constantly striving for this.

We make delivery cooler than a person. The robot does not get sick, does not violate traffic rules, it is comfortable, cute and super-predictable for business. Robots can work 24 hours a day. And the technical characteristics of the robot allow you to transport volumetric loads: for example, 25 kilograms, - Marat Mavlyutov listed the advantages.

Courier robots do not violate traffic rules and always drive at speeds safe for passers-by

It is important that the cost of delivery by robots is gradually reduced. The role in this was played by the processing of the device, including. The company cited data that in Moscow in a fleet of 200 robots, the cost of delivery over the past few years has decreased fivefold and has already caught up with couriers.

The first robots of the new generation will enter the "field" in November 2025. They will deliver orders to Yandex Food, Shops, Delivery and Yandex partner companies. The cost of delivery by robots has decreased fivefold since 2019 and is now equal to courier delivery. After the launch of the robot courier 4.0, the robo delivery will be even cheaper than delivery by courier, the company says.

At the same time, the devices continue to improve not only in terms of improving business indicators, but also contributing to the creation of the urban environment, the developers say. In this regard, a model of the next generation courier robot was presented at the conference, which, in addition to being more technological than its predecessor, is also more "cute," "friendly," "safe," as it was described in Yandex. It will be possible, for example, to ask to give way. The company is still working on this model.

A new model of a delivery robot that is still in development

In addition, Yandex announced the development of the direction of humanoid robots within the company. One of the reasons why this is worth doing right now is to reduce the cost of hardware. It is happening at a faster pace than analysts previously predicted, said Alexei Leshchankin, head of the Yandex humanoid robot project.

Yandex decided that the time has come to come close to humanoid robots

As TAdviser was specified in the company regarding the "hardware," the humanoid project uses several models of robots from foreign manufacturers, which are sold freely.

The plans for 2025 are to implement a case of carrying and delivering an order through the Yandex infrastructure to the workplace. The company showed how this is carried out at the conference in real time right in the hall.

Bipedal robots can also find use in delivery

A humanoid robot was required in a place where orders seem to be being formed, to take the order to an employee in order to put it in a delivery robot on wheels, and the latter, in turn, must deliver it to the point where another humanoid robot is working, accepting the order, and then hand it over to the final recipient.

During the demonstration, the process occurred with a slight hitch: due to the fact that in the morning the humanoid robot had a somewhat broken knee - he needed the help of a person to pick up and seize the order from the courier robot at the stage of arrival at the desired point according to the scenario. The process of passing with an order in hand through the entire conference hall to the stage where the host was waiting, however, did without excesses.

At the same time, Yandex is studying the possibilities of using humanoid robots not only in delivery, but also in other areas - for example, in medicine, where there is also a shortage of personnel.

Preparation for Mass Production

Yandex has planned mass production of new models of its delivery robots at the end of 2025. This was announced by a company representative during a conference call in April 2025. The representative of Yandex stressed that the launch of mass production of new models of courier robots will be an important step in the development of the company's autonomous transport. It was also noted that the cost of delivery using robots has already practically equaled the delivery using ordinary couriers, and the company continues to work to improve the economic efficiency of delivery robots.

Yandex announced the start of mass production of courier robots

Yandex is preparing for the serial production of a new generation of courier robots, which will be distinguished by increased efficiency. The company continues to invest in the development of autonomous delivery technology and notes the significant results of these investments.

Delivery robots, also known as rovers, are designed to transport small loads and have complete autonomy. They independently plan routes, analyze the environment and bypass obstacles. Technical characteristics allow robots to move along city sidewalks at a speed of 5-8 kilometers per hour.

An important advantage of these devices is their all-weather nature - courier robots are able to function in both summer and winter conditions, fulfilling orders in various weather circumstances. Yandex first launched the use of rovers in 2019.

Mass production of new models of delivery robots will allow the company to expand its autonomous delivery network and improve the efficiency of logistics processes. Courier robots have already become a familiar part of the urban environment in Moscow, and with an increase in their number and improvement of technical characteristics, further development of this service is expected.^[2]

2024

Yandex has created a new company for the development of delivery robots

The Russian company Yandex on December 16, 2024 established a new legal entity LLC Robodostavka with an authorized capital of ₽10 thousand for the development of an autonomous cargo delivery service. 99% of the company is owned by Technoyak LLC, 1% - Intersurch Solutions LLC. Read more here.

Accident in Moscow

August 5, 2024 robot- the supplier Yandex"" collided with a car at a pedestrian crossing in. To Moscow A traffic accident occurred on Zubovsky Boulevard in the metropolitan area of ​ ​ Khamovniki.

It is reported that the robot was moving along a pedestrian crossing in accordance with the rules of the road - at the allowing signal of the traffic light. The automatic delivery man almost completed the crossing of the street when he was hit by a Kia Rio car. It is noted that as a result of the accident, the robot received minor damage. At the same time, none of the people were injured, and the driver of the car and Yandex have no complaints about each other.

In Moscow, there was an accident with a Yandex delivery robot and a car

When the robot almost completed the move, it hit the car. As a result of the incident, no one was injured, - said representatives of the Russian IT company.

A video from the scene was released on the Internet: it shows a driver sitting in his car, a traffic police officer filming the incident with a smartphone camera, and a robot. Meanwhile, disputes broke out on social networks about who should pay for damage in an accident with an automated courier. The fact is that there is no separate clause on drones in the rules of the road. If we consider the robot as a vehicle, then it should not have been at the pedestrian crossing, and then the driver could make a claim. The drone also does not fall under the obstacle criterion, since, according to traffic rules, it is a stationary object or a faulty, damaged vehicle. And the robot was in motion at the time of the accident.

Auto lawyer Lev Voropaev believes that in the event of an accident with drones, the culprit should be installed in accordance with the current traffic rules. If the driver of the vehicle with the current OSAGO policy is to blame, then the insurance company will reimburse the cost of damage caused to the owner of the robot. Similarly, in the event of the drone's guilt, another participant in the accident will receive compensation.^[3]

2021

Announcement of 3rd generation courier robots

On November 17, 2021, Yandex announced the creation of third-generation courier robots. They began to be used to deliver food on the campus of the US University of Arizona, where about 35 thousand people live.

Among the main innovations in Yandex.Rovers is an improved lidar, which allows you to better see close objects: the vertical viewing angle has become wider, and the number of emitted rays has increased from 16 to 64. An additional camera with a large focal length also appeared, allowing you to see traffic lights on the opposite side of even a very wide road.

The new rover will be able to transport up to 20 kg of cargo in a 60-liter compartment - for example, six 40-centimeter pizzas and four two-liter bottles of soda. The second generation robot houses five pizzas without soda.

According to the developers, the third generation suspension has become softer. Now it is easier for robots to climb high curbs, ride off-road, overcome snow porridge and other difficult sections of the path. Robots began to move quieter on tiles, paving stones and on exits from curbs.

Third-generation rovers were tested in the summer of 2021 in the central part of Russia, so they created a special platform with artificial snow to check the new suspension in winter conditions. According to Yandex, there are no suitable winter tires on the market, so the company also makes them.

We experimented a lot - for example, we changed the pattern and depth of the protector - and by the advent of new robots we found the most successful options, "Yandex said.

In addition, the updated delivery robots are equipped with a removable battery. Now he does not need to take a break to charge - replacing the dead battery with a fresh one takes less than a minute. When the battery is removed, the rover is powered by a small backup battery, the company said.^[4]

Russian Post began delivering parcels using Yandex robots

On October 25, 2021, Russian Post announced the launch of a delivery service using Yandex robots. We are talking about the use of Yandex.Rover devices, which at the first stage will deliver parcels from 27 post offices in Moscow. At first, 36 robotic couriers were purchased. Read more here.

Start of delivery of orders to residential buildings in Moscow by courier robots

In February 2021 robot , "" Yandex.Rover began delivering orders "" to Yandex.Shops residential buildings on the Khodynsky field in. To Moscow The company promises to expand the geography of automated couriers. More. here

2020

Yandex.Eda has courier robots delivering orders in Moscow and Innopolis

On December 9, 2020, Yandex"" announced the start of using courier robots to deliver user orders. " Yandex.Food So far drones , "" Yandex.Rover are available only to employees and visitors of the Belaya Ploshchad business district near the Belorusskaya metro station in, To Moscow as well as Innopolis near Kazan. More. here

Start of delivery of products from Yandex.Lavka

On October 22, 2020, it became known that Yandex.Rover courier robots are starting to deliver products from Yandex.Lavka in Moscow. This was announced on his page on the social network Facebook by the general director of Yandex.Taxi Daniil Shuleiko.

This handsome man is already preparing to go to shift in one of the "shops" in Moscow. It turned out that agreeing on the appearance of the Rover is not a task for a day, "he wrote.

According to Shuleiko, first Yandex.Rover will deliver orders issued through Yandex.Lavka to a limited range of customers in business centers. In order to get the purchased products, you will need to go down to the street and pick them up from the robotic machine.

Daniil Shuleiko in the comments to his Facebook post admitted that there is a risk of stealing the robot, noting that it is quite heavy and its movements are monitored. In which areas of Moscow the delivery of Yandex.Rovers products will work, by October 22, 2020, it was not reported.

Yandex expects that in the future delivery robots will be used simultaneously with couriers, which will satisfy the peak demand for delivery. At the same time, unlike couriers, robots will not be able to enter the entrances - customers will have to leave the house to pick up the order. Only the recipient of the order using the mobile application can open the cover of the robot cargo compartment.

Vadim Bolshakov, head of the ATOL development department, told Rossiyskaya Gazeta that weather conditions can interfere with the robot: snow, rains, frosts. It can get stuck on ice or in a snowdrift. Perhaps it will not go around the giant puddle either. Many stairs, curbs and trails not marked on the map. For the robot, such routes, confirmed Oleg Kivokurtsev, Development Director of Promobot, are extremely difficult and even dangerous.^[5]

Beginning of tests in Moscow

In July 2020, Yandex began testing the unmanned Yandex.Rover, its courier robot. He was first seen on Malaya Dmitrovka Street in Moscow.

This is a six-wheeled apparatus about a meter long and about half a meter high, designed to move along sidewalks at the speed of a pedestrian. The robot is capable of not only recognizing objects surrounding it and bypassing obstacles, but also laying a route, allowing people and animals to pass. It is equipped with lidar, which means it is well oriented both in the daytime and at night. However, it is still difficult to say from the video - the "smart" suitcase on wheels moves autonomously or is controlled by engineers from laptops.

Earlier, Yandex.Rover was tested only on the territory of the Moscow office of the company, since April it could be seen in Skolkovo, where a robot courier delivers documents and parcels. The customer only needs to meet him, unlock the cargo compartment lock through the mobile application, and then pick up the parcel.

All this happens within the framework of an experiment approved by a special law on the development of Artificial Intelligence in Moscow. Experts are confident that in a few years the delivery robot can seriously compete with the "live" couriers of the same Yandex.Eda or Deliveri.Klub.

Experts also suggest that, in addition to the main functions, the robot can carry out others without additional costs, in particular, monitor the order along its route using special video cameras, as well as collect big data from all pedestrians encountered along the way with smartphones.

2019: Robot's first demonstration

On November 7, 2019, Yandex introduced a delivery robot, which is designed to transport small goods on city sidewalks. The device of the Russian company was called Yandex.Rover.

The robot is able to recognize objects around, plan a route, bypass obstacles, let pedestrians and animals pass, and thanks to lidar (technology for obtaining and processing information about remote objects using active optical systems) it can do all this in the dark.

 The robot is based on the development of Yandex for an unmanned vehicle. Different sets of sensors, new chassis designs for more complex terrain and fragile loads are being tested on the delivery robot.

The robot uses a classic design for such equipment with three pairs of wheels and vertical loading of the package. To do this, a hatch is installed at the top of the robot, which can only be opened by a company employee and a client using a mobile application for unlocking. The height of the robot is about half a meter.

By the time Yandex.Rover is announced, several robots are already driving on the roads, they are carrying documents from Yandex headquarters to the bus, and they are driving it to other offices of the company.

Delivery robots can become indispensable for the "last mile" stage in logistics, said   Dmitry Polishchuk, head of unmanned vehicles at Yandex. 

Yandex.Rover can reach its destination in fully autonomous mode, but by November 7, 2019 it is still controlled using a remote operator.

It is assumed that robots can become indispensable for the "last mile" stage in logistics, and the company itself plans to use it in the Yandex.Eda and Yandex.Lavka projects to deliver goods from the Beru online store or in warehouse logistics.^[6]

Notes