A smartbus is a new bus with the system fitted in the factory: smartbus = ordinary bus + SmartDEPOT™, a bus that drives itself inside the depot, without a driver. Whether an existing bus can be retrofitted is the manufacturer’s decision, and it would have to be agreed with the manufacturer before any commitment. For most fleets, a new vehicle is the more economical route.
What turns a city bus into a smartbus
Three things turn a city bus into a smartbus:
- Drive-by-wire. The driving system plans each move and sends requests. The bus’s own controls carry them out for steering, braking and propulsion, and can bring the bus to a safe stop at any moment. The manufacturer designs this into the platform.
- SmartDEPOT™, fitted in the factory. The sensors and the driving system leave the production line with the bus. One supplier delivers the whole vehicle.
- An ordinary bus outside the depot. The manufacturer homologates the smartbus as a city bus. On the road, a driver is at the wheel as before. The autonomous mode works only inside the depot and switches off at the exit.
Why the route runs through the factory
Full-size series city buses do not yet have redundant drive-by-wire for steering, braking and propulsion. A bus already in service would need it from its manufacturer, which is why retrofit is the manufacturer’s decision. A smartbus leaves the factory with drive-by-wire and SmartDEPOT™ fitted.
Evolution, NOT Revolution
Operators add smartbuses through fleet renewal, when they specify their next buses. Fleets are renewing now: 60% of new city buses sold in the EU in 2025 were zero-emission (Transport & Environment, 2026), and 11,607 electric buses were registered in Europe in 2025, 48% more than in 2024 (Sustainable Bus / DVV Media Group, 2026). Olivier Van Mullem, Owner of Multiobus, describes the phased approach in The State of Smart Depots 2026: “start with the vehicles that are ready and expand as the fleet evolves”.
Across assessed depots, manual depot movement takes 10 to over 35 minutes per vehicle per day, depending on depot layout, fleet size and shift organisation. At MZA Warsaw, the measured figure is about 35 minutes a day for each bus; it varies with depot layout and fleet. Every depot move the smartbus makes returns driver time to line service.
What an operator can do with today’s fleet
Today’s fleet is where the numbers come from. A depot assessment measures the depot time, the moves and the layout constraints in the operator’s own depot, so the first smartbuses can be specified at the next fleet renewal with the operator’s own figures behind them. The Smartbus Ready assessment is the first step of the Smartbus Onboard Program: a site survey and data exercise in the operator’s own depot.
What a smartbus is: What is a smartbus? Where this stands today, with who is on board where: Where does depot autonomy for city buses stand in 2026?
Questions operators ask
Retrofit is the manufacturer’s decision and would have to be agreed with the bus manufacturer before any commitment. For most fleets, a new vehicle is the more economical route: a smartbus leaves the factory with drive-by-wire and SmartDEPOT™ fitted.
The driving system plans each move and sends requests; the bus’s own controls carry them out for steering, braking and propulsion and can bring the bus to a safe stop at any moment. Full-size series city buses do not yet have redundant drive-by-wire, so the manufacturer designs it into the platform.
Yes. The manufacturer homologates the smartbus as a city bus, a driver is at the wheel on the road as before, and the autonomous mode works only inside the depot and switches off at the exit.
Through fleet renewal, when they specify their next buses. An assessment of today’s depot gives the operator’s own figures for that specification.
Operators who want their own numbers start with Depot Minutes, a free online tool for depot time estimates, and the Smartbus Onboard Program, a site survey and data exercise in their own depot.
Smartbuses in every depot.