The date of May 28, 2026, will go down in the history of Russian logistics. Not as an experiment, not as a demonstration at a closed landfill, but as an ordinary commercial transportation, only without a driver at the wheel.
"We have come directly to the fact that unmanned vehicles on public roads can cross the border, believe me, it was quite difficult to do this," Deputy Transport Minister Dmitry Zverev said at the Kazanforum on May 14, announcing the date.
On May 28, KAMAZ passed the bridge over the Amur River. The cargo is going to China. The route is presented to the Presidents of the two countries. The event was officially recorded.
How did they come to this
The journey took several years. In 2022, the launch of an unmanned pilot over the Blagoveshchensk–Heihe bridge was planned, but did not take place. In 2024-2025, technological readiness was achieved: unmanned KAMAZ trucks began to run on Russian public roads. By May 2026, there were 101 of them.
At the same time, work was underway on the regulatory framework — it is much more difficult to pass a drone across the state border than by an internal road. It was necessary to coordinate the customs control procedure, the driverless inspection procedure, and responsibility in case of emergency situations. Zverev himself said, "Believe me, it was quite difficult to do."
Why the Blagoveshchensk–Heihe Bridge
The bridge opened in 2022 and has since become one of the busiest Russian-Chinese border crossings. The Kanikurgan Customs and Logistics Center on the Russian side is specifically expanding its capacity to accommodate the growth of cargo traffic, including with an eye to unmanned vehicles.
The route is technologically convenient: a short bridge, a fixed route without forks, and managed infrastructure on both sides. An ideal training ground for the first cross-border flight.
What's next
The plans include the expansion of unmanned routes to the Primorye—2 railway station, connecting the Chinese province of Jilin with Russian Far Eastern ports. In parallel, Russia and Kazakhstan are considering unmanned transportation as early as 2026.
For the logistics industry, this is a model change in the horizon of 3-5 years: an unmanned truck does not need to rest, is not limited by the driver's work schedule, and does not stop in the middle of the route. The cost of transportation on long routes will drop — the only question is the scaling of technology and the regulatory framework for new routes.
