Amsterdam / Gliwice, 21 October 2026 – A depot autonomy readiness assessment by Autonomous Systems has identified depot movements at Garage West, one of GVB’s three bus garages in Amsterdam, that may be suitable for automation. Autonomous Systems, based in Poland, develops SmartDEPOT™, an automated driving system for city buses. The assessment followed a site visit in May 2026.
Every night, bus depots repeat the same short movements. Staff drive each of them by hand, often in tight spaces. Minor collisions during these manoeuvres are common in depots across Europe.
Depot-first autonomy gives this work to the bus itself. A smartbus is a standard city bus model that the manufacturer equips with SmartDEPOT™. Inside the depot it drives and parks itself with no driver on board. It moves on mapped routes and carries no passengers, so situations that are critical on public roads become manageable and low-risk. The assessment examined whether selected depot movements could potentially be automated using SmartDEPOT™ technology.
The assessment groups the movements potentially suited to automation at Garage West into three sets:
In the operating concept discussed on site, the driver would leave the bus just inside the entry gate, and the smartbus would perform all further depot movements. The existing depot dispatcher would supervise them through Mission Control, the SmartDEPOT™ supervisory application. Charging would start through the pantograph as soon as the smartbus parks, with no staff involved. The smartbus would take its instructions from data GVB already maintains: parking positions and vehicle status from GVB’s scheduling platform, through the integration platform that also serves GVB’s charging management system.
According to Autonomous Systems, the assessment indicates several potential benefits that could be associated with automated depot movements, including:
“Operators across Europe are short of drivers and depot staff, so every depot movement a smartbus makes by itself matters,” said Jan Gramatyka, Co-CEO of Autonomous Systems. “The depot is where bus autonomy creates value first. Our goal is smartbuses in every depot.”
The GVB depot processes are already fully digital. GVB provided access to the depot and operational information required for the assessment. The assessment does not constitute a decision by GVB to implement the technology.
The Garage West study is a Smartbus Ready assessment: a site survey and data analysis, carried out before any smartbus operates at the depot. It covers:
Autonomous Systems has carried out Smartbus Ready assessments for public transport operators across Europe. Operators can start the Smartbus Onboard Program with an assessment of their own depot.