Transportation Starts a Conversation
In 2025, chatbots became the gatekeepers of logistics: they schedule visits to pickup points, call couriers, and provide real-time fuel price information. At the same time, cameras began recognizing faces, biometrics started replacing travel cards, and the Ministry of Transport announced plans to fine violators based on facial recognition.
Why Transportation Needs Intelligent Dialogue
Russia’s transportation and logistics sector is undergoing a period of radical transformation. The era when customers had to call an office, wait in line, and fill out forms by hand is coming to an end. It is being replaced by a model where information is available instantly and systems often understand passenger needs better than passengers themselves. This shift is not just about convenience – it is an economic necessity. Every hour spent waiting in a queue means lost productivity, lost revenue, and dissatisfied customers. Digitalization and artificial intelligence make interactions between companies and users smoother and more natural.
Chatbots Take Over the Workplace
The year began with the mass rollout of intelligent chatbots across all segments of logistics. Russian Post launched a digital platform that allows users to send parcels, book office appointments, or request a courier without making a single phone call.
Astrakhan Region introduced a virtual assistant for booking appointments at Moi Dokumenty public service centers. The neural network assistant Vika, which has been operating in Yugra since 2018, was integrated into the national messenger MAX in November 2025 and added a Fuel Prices service. Users select a city and fuel type and receive a list of gas stations with color-coded indicators for low, average, and high prices.
At Mosgortrans, an AI-based system now optimizes work schedules for nearly 50% of the driver fleet. Previously, a human dispatcher spent two hours creating a schedule for a single depot, with a risk of uneven workload distribution. The AI completes the task in five minutes, factoring in route complexity, maintenance needs, physical workload, and labor regulations. As a result, the workload on planning staff has been cut in half, while fairness in route allocation has improved by 40%.
On the roads of Vladimir Region, an intelligent traffic management system has been deployed that not only reacts to congestion but predicts it. By analyzing real-time traffic density, public transport load, camera feeds, and weather conditions, the system dynamically adjusts traffic lights. The outcome: average speeds increased from 35 to 40 km/h, forced stops during rush hour fell by 25%, and each driver saves up to 15 minutes for every half hour of travel.
The Ministry of Transport has proposed introducing biometric identification on railways. Cameras in high-risk areas will identify violators by face and automatically issue fines. Automating enforcement through biometrics is expected to reduce the number of accidents on rail lines.
Regions Gain the Most
Digitalization has proven especially beneficial for small towns and rural areas. Where accessing services once required travel to large cities, long queues, paperwork, and waiting times, services are now available directly through messaging apps, often without leaving home. For Russia as a whole, this translates into a higher quality of life, fewer administrative barriers, and significant time savings for citizens. For the logistics sector, it means a dramatic reduction in operating costs.
Export potential is also substantial. Russian chatbot solutions for messengers, AI-based public transport management systems, and intelligent traffic control platforms are in demand across post-Soviet markets, Asia, and developing economies. A company that built a system for Mosgortrans can scale it to the transport networks of Shanghai, Delhi, or Istanbul.
Future Outlook
Over the next two years, AI is expected to become even more deeply integrated into every stage of interaction between transportation systems and passengers. Chatbots will not only book tickets but manage entire journeys – suggesting optimal routes, reserving taxis to stations, booking hotels at destinations, and handling payments in a single click. Everything will be personalized to passenger preferences: the system will know whether someone prefers a private compartment over an open sleeper, vegetarian meals, or window seats.
Biometrics is set to become the norm. Facial access to train cars, fare payments by face on buses, and biometric identification in car-sharing services are all nearing final deployment. Systems will know who is on board, helping prevent crime and enabling faster response during emergencies.
AI-driven video analytics will become ubiquitous. Cameras will not just record but analyze – detecting dangerous behavior, identifying unwanted individuals, preventing vandalism, and assisting in searches for missing persons. Security staff will receive real-time alerts and can respond before incidents escalate.
Transport management systems will become increasingly predictive. Instead of reacting to incidents after they occur, systems will forecast and prevent them.
By 2028, Russian transportation is expected to be fully integrated into a digital ecosystem where AI, chatbots, biometrics, and video analytics work together. The result will be a system that does more than move people – it actively ensures that travel is as comfortable, safe, and cost-efficient as possible.
