Russia Expands AI Use to Manage Urban Transit Flows
Artificial intelligence is moving onto Russian streets, optimizing bus and trolley schedules, rerouting vehicles in real time, and helping cities cope with traffic surges.
In Kaluga, AI is now tasked with keeping trolleybuses running on schedule. The new system will fully automate fleet management—tracking vehicles, assigning them to routes, and adjusting operations on the fly to respond to changing road conditions.
Mayor Dmitry Denisov says the city is drawing on lessons learned from Moscow and St. Petersburg, both of which have pioneered AI-driven urban mobility platforms. Kaluga’s upgrade is built directly on those IT frameworks.
The rollout isn’t limited to one city. In Nizhny Novgorod, neural networks analyze crowding at bus stops by tracking passenger numbers. In Omsk, officials have just completed deployment of an intelligent transport system (ITS) that feeds live traffic data into a central hub. Specialists working around the clock use those insights to adjust traffic lights, reduce congestion, and improve both safety and comfort for drivers and passengers.
