Polski
Autosan Returns to the Game, and Europe Hands Over the Wheel to Robots
We start the week with the return of a legend of Polish motoring: Autosan has unveiled a bus prototype in Sanok that can switch from a passenger vehicle into a field medical evacuation point in just half an hour. Meanwhile, across Europe, vehicles that need no driver at all are being tested with growing confidence – from Madrid to Zagreb, autonomous mobility is stepping out of conference talk and onto real routes. We take a look at what both these stories say about the direction the public transport industry is heading.
01 · Buses
Autosan BIES: the bus that becomes a field hospital in half an hour
Autosan, a brand long associated with the history of Polish motoring, is returning to the market with a new family of intercity buses called BIES [1]. Styling-wise, the vehicle nods to the iconic H9 model, but the real novelty is its dual-use function – the interior has been designed to switch from passenger configuration to casualty transport in around 30 minutes. Stretchers and medical equipment are loaded through a dedicated hatch in the body, allowing an ordinary intercity route to be quickly turned into a mobile evacuation point.
The prototype's unveiling was no accident – Autosan invited the State Fire Service and paramedic students to collaborate, testing the functionality of the stretchers and the loading procedures. This shows that BIES was designed from the outset with real crisis scenarios in mind, not as a flashy trade-show gimmick. Series production has been announced for 2027, so the industry still has time to look closely at the homologation details and the first orders.
This is an interesting story not only for carriers but also for local governments responsible for crisis management – a bus that carries passengers day to day and can become a defense asset when needed is a concept rarely seen in Europe.
So Autosan is betting that lives can be saved through thoughtful body design and quick human response. On the other side of Europe, it's algorithms that are meant to save lives – because safety is today's main argument for the development of autonomous mobility.
02 · Autonomy
Autonomous vehicles are multiplying across Europe – from Madrid to Zagreb
Euronews describes how quickly autonomous mobility is spreading across European cities [2]. Madrid has approved robotaxi services operated by Uber, WeRide, and Avomo. In Zurich, WeRide's driverless buses have been cleared to operate on the airport-to-terminal route – exactly the kind of route where autonomous shuttles perform best: a short, repeatable stretch with predictable traffic. In Zagreb, meanwhile, Pony.ai and Verne jointly tested rides from the airport to the city centre using Nvidia technology.
The strongest argument in the piece, however, concerns safety: the authors point out that widespread deployment of autonomous vehicles could prevent as many as seven in ten fatal accidents, which across Europe would mean saving up to 13,000 lives a year. That's a figure that shifts the discussion about autonomous buses and shuttles from "is it worth it" to "how quickly can we roll this out safely."
For Poland's ITS industry and public transport operators, this is above all a signal of where Europe really stands today – not in a phase of pilots on closed test tracks, but in a phase of regular, commercial services on airport and urban routes.
Summary
Summary
This week shows two different but complementary directions the industry is heading: on one hand, vehicles designed to adapt quickly to crisis situations, and on the other, systems meant to remove human error from the safety equation altogether. Both of these threads, along with many others from the world of buses, electromobility, and ITS systems, can be seen live at Warsaw Bus Expo – the International Public Transport Fair. See you there!
Invitation
From dual-use buses to driverless airport shuttles – the future of public transport is unfolding right before our eyes. See the latest designs and ITS technologies live at Warsaw Bus Expo – the International Public Transport Fair. Join us where the bus industry and electromobility are setting the next direction for the sector.
Warsaw Bus Expo