Russia's first unmanned cargo trucks hit the St. Petersburg – Moscow motorway on Wednesday during the ongoing 26th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). 

Themed "Sovereign development as the basis of a just world: joining forces for future generations", SPIEF explores the cross sections of technology and economical growth especially in the sector of transportation, information security, and entertainment.

The opening of the motorway for autonomous driving cargo freight is also a landmark for the country's cross-section development including unmanned technologies, digital twin roads and smart roads over a two-year period, experts at the panel discussion said.

"We're currently at one stage on a new, important path. It's already clear that we've got the competencies, we've got the engineers, we've got the solutions and we've got the software," said Albert Karimov, deputy minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.

"It's crucial that we've kicked this off with Russian-made vehicles," Dmitry Bakanov from the same organization added.

SPIEF also covers a range of discussions and exhibition of cutting-edge technologies including gaming, robotics, artificial intelligence, drones, and entertainment, as China Media Group (CMG) reports.

From the machine-made robot-served ice-cream production solution can cut down about 30 percent of labor costs, to drones that can survey land and assist for rescue works after natural disaster, technology is one of the highlights of SPIEF, CMG said. 

The country aims to speed up the development in autonomous driving technologies, artificial intelligence and surveillance, and explore the business applications of small- and medium-size drones in order to unleash economical growth.