Between 10 and 14 March, curious commuters were able to test out a driverless bus for free in Barcelona. The vehicle was built by French carmaker Renault and comes at a time when Europe is lagging behind countries such as the United States and China in terms of self-driving vehicles.
Locals and tourists alike had the opportunity to hop aboard the driverless bus in Barcelona’s city centre, where the vehicle ran a 2.2 km route, including four stops along the way. The aim of the test was not just to trial the bus but also to familiarise commuters with the vehicle.
For the bus’s development, Renault collaborated with WeRide, a company specialising in autonomous vehicles. The bus was first unveiled during the French Open in 2024 and is also currently being tested in Valence (France) and at Zurich Airport (Switzerland). With this project, Renault and WeRide aim to develop automated public transport solutions in Europe that can attain an L4 autonomy level. This means the vehicle can handle driving situations independently within a defined operational area, under remote supervision.
@WeRide_ai x @renaultgroup : Autonomous Robobus arrives in Barcelona!
— WeRide.ai (@WeRide_ai) March 11, 2025
From March 10-14, WeRide’s Level-4 autonomous Robobus will operate in real traffic conditions in the city center—Spain’s first trial of its kind.
– 2km circular route with stops at Passeig de Gracia & Rambla… pic.twitter.com/u5nBpV6jVj
“The US is doing a lot of experimentation with autonomous vehicles, the same thing in China. Until now we don’t have a lot in fact in Europe. And this is why we want to show that this works and prepare Europe to this route in public transportation,” said Patrick Vergelas, head of Renault’s autonomous mobility projects, in an interview with The Associated Press (AP).
Driving in a dense urban environment
The self-driving bus is electric and can operate for 120 km straight on one charge. At its maximum speed, the vehicles reaches 40 km per hour. In order to navigate safely in a dense urban environment, the bus has 10 cameras and eight so-called lidars or sensor arrays, allowing it to successfully position itself on the road.
According to Carlos Santos, of Renault’s autonomous driving group, people are reacting in all kinds of ways to the driverless bus. While some of the passengers were smiling during the test, others started crying, taking photographs or trying to open the doors while the bus was on the road.
Last week, @WeRide_ai announced an important partnership with @berto_ia , @renaultgroup, and @MacifAssurances to bring the first fully driverless commercial #Robobus deployment in Europe. Check out the video below to see this driverless shuttle service in action!#WeRide $WRD… pic.twitter.com/ZDZmFNiETe
— WeRide.ai (@WeRide_ai) March 5, 2025
“By developing autonomous shuttles in a dense and complex urban environment, the experimentation demonstrates the maturity of new technologies for automated public transport services,” said Renault in a statement.
As the Barcelona trial concluded, city officials declared that they had received no reports of accidents caused by the experimental bus.
