The project on creating the first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) safety ecosystem in Russia is to receive government support — the Samara University has joined the ranks of winners of the federal contest for support of the Russian artificial intelligence (AI) research centers. The competitive selection was performed by the Analytical Center under the Government of Russia. According to the contest’s results, more than 850 mln rubles will be allocated to the Samara University in the next tree years on the co-financing basis, including 600 mln rubles of budgetary subsidies and over 200 mln rubles from industrial partners. The money will be spent on design of applied solutions in the field of artificial intelligence to develop the national unmanned aviation industry.
 
Co-financing will be ensured with University’s four industrial partners, including Sberbank PJSC and Transport of the Future, the company developing unmanned aviation systems. Development of innovative solutions will be performed by the University together with the academic partners — Skoltech, the Kharkevich Institute for Information Transmission Problems of RAS, and the Adyghe State University. 
 
In total, based on the results of the contest, five more research centers operating on the basis of the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, the Saint Petersburg State University and the Novosibirsk State University, the Blokhin National Medical Research Center of Oncology and the Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod have received government support along with the Samara University. The money is allocated by the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation in order to design applied AI solutions for specific priority economic sectors.
 
One of priority projects implemented in the framework of such government support is development of the Russia’s first safety ecosystem for home made unmanned aerial vehicles in the Samara University. The work on this project is performed by scientists of the University’s Center for Intelligent Mobility of Multifunctional Unmanned Aviation Systems. Neural network-based development allows adjusting and automating drone flights and minimizing the number of potential emergency situations on the surface and in the air. In the long run, such a united ecosystem will help to set high safety standards for the entire unmanned aviation industry in our country. 
 
The scientists implement this project together with Transport of the Future — the industrial partner of the University. In December 2023, the company opened the first plant line manufacturing non-military unmanned aerial vehicles for agriculture, monitoring and delivery on the territory of the Togliatti Special Economic Zone. 
“The system we develop based on neural networks will allow increasing safety of unmanned aerial vehicle operation and minimizing the number of possible emergencies. Also, in the long run, it will help to set up standards and airspace traffic regulations for the entire unmanned aviation industry in the future. There are no such systems in Russia yet,” Professor Artem Nikonorov, Director of the Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Head of the Samara University’s Center for Intelligent Mobility of Multifunctional Unmanned Aviation Systems, emphasized.

According to Artem Nikonorov, the number of unmanned aerial vehicles in various economic sectors will grow every year, and when, for example, one day there are dozens of thousands drones in the sky simultaneously, there can not be enough human forces or operators to monitor each unmanned aerial vehicle, so that none of drones could violate traffic regulations or cause potential danger for people. Therefore, artificial intelligence and neural networks will come to rescue: as electronic dispatchers they will control drone movement within the system’s area of responsibility while still turning to human assistance in case there is a challenge. 

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The Samara University is a participant of the Science and Universities National Project.
In 2021, the first competitive selection of AI research centers was performed in the framework of the Artificial Intelligence Federal Project (a part of the Digital Economy of the Russian Federation National Program). As a result, six scientific and educational organizations received support for establishment and development of such centers: Skoltech, the Innopolis University, the ITMO University, the HSE University, MIPT and the Ivannikov Institute for System Programming of the RAS. 

In December 2023, the ‘second wave’ of competitive selection of AI research centers was performed which let six more scientific and educational organizations receive support for development of their centers, including the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, the Saint Petersburg State University, the Novosibirsk State University, the Samara University, the Blokhin National Medical Research Center of Oncology and the Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod.

Transport of the Future is the company specializing in development of unmanned aviation systems (UAS), including air-taxis and large unmanned aerial vehicles of up to 700 kg. In December 2023, the company launched large-scale manufacturing of UAS and structural elements such as composite wind-sticks, electrical engines, body parts and avionics on the territory of the Togliatti Special Economic Zone in the Samara Region.