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February 15, 2023June 21, 2025 byMWB Team

Driverless bus is tested in Barcelona

Commuters in downtown Barcelona will be able to ride the bus for free soon. There’s just one catch: this mini-bus has no one at the wheel. The bus pulls away from the stop with its passengers on its own, brakes before changing lanes and eases down one of Barcelona’s most fashionable boulevards.

Renault is testing a new driverless mini-bus in Barcelona. The autonomous vehicle runs on a 2.2-km (1.3-mile) circular route with four stops in the center of the Spanish city. Adventurous commuters can jump on free of charge.

The French carmaker has teamed up with WeRide, a company specializing in autonomous vehicles, to make the prototype. It unveiled the driverless bus at the French Open venue last year, but now it is testing it on the open road in Barcelona. It also has testing projects going in Valence, France, and at the Zurich airport.

Pau Cugat was one of the curious to step aboard for a short ride along Passeig de Gracia boulevard.

“We just passed by a regular, combustion-engine city bus, and I thought, ‘Look, there is a bus of the past, and right behind it you have the bus of the future,’” the 18-year-old student said.

“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.”
Patrick Vergelas, Head of Renault’s AutoNOmous Mobility Projects

Driverless taxis and buses are being tried out by companies in other cities, from San Francisco to Tokyo. But Renault’s initiative comes as Europe generally lags behind the United States and China in driverless vehicle technology, where companies are fiercely competing to get ahead.

The electric bus can run for 120 kilometers without a recharge and reach 40 kilometers per hour (25 mph). It is equipped with 10 cameras and eight lidars (sensor arrays) to help it navigate the streets filled with cars, motorbikes and pedestrians. The company says the bus is able to drive safely on a given course through a busy downtown like that of bustling Barcelona.

Source: AP News

Insight

January 5, 2023August 3, 2025 byMWB Team

Engineering Excellence in Complex Urban Infrastructure Projects

Urban infrastructure projects represent some of the most ambitious engineering undertakings, requiring innovative solutions and multidisciplinary collaboration to address challenges like traffic congestion, environmental impact, and safety. At MWB, we have developed a robust approach to delivering excellence in complex projects, such as undersea tunnels, multi-level junctions, and innovative designs—leveraging Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), SCADA, and other advanced technologies.

The Challenges of Modern Urban Infrastructure

Modern cities face ever-growing demands on their infrastructure. With increasing urbanization, traffic congestion, and environmental sustainability concerns, infrastructure projects are no longer just about building roads or bridges; they are about creating intelligent systems that integrate seamlessly into urban ecosystems. Some of the key challenges include:

Space constraints: Projects like multi-level junctions must maximize utility within limited urban spaces.
Environmental sensitivity: Undersea tunnels require designs that minimize ecological disruption while maintaining structural integrity under extreme conditions.
Safety and efficiency: High-traffic areas demand systems that ensure smooth flow and rapid incident response.
Scalability: Infrastructure must accommodate future growth without requiring constant overhauls.

Leveraging ITS for Smarter Solutions

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) integrate advanced communication, computation, and sensor technologies to optimize traffic flow, reduce emissions, and enhance safety for smarter infrastructure. It enables real-time monitoring of vehicle movement, air quality, and tunnel integrity along with Incident Detection Systems, which is integrated with adaptive lighting and ventilation to improve safety while reducing energy consumption within under-sea tunnels. It enables dynamic traffic signals and lane management systems to optimize traffic flow based on real-time data and predictive analytics to reduce bottlenecks for enhancing the commuter experience. ITS enabled innovative designs allow automated tolling and congestion pricing to encourage better traffic distribution.

In addition, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are vital for managing the complexity of large-scale infrastructure. By offering centralized monitoring and control, SCADA ensures seamless operations even under challenging conditions.

MWB’s Approach to Excellence

MWB brings deep expertise with all the underlying technologies, nuances and its integration with the current infrastructure to build a resilient technology integration solution. As an advocate to the cost-effective solutions, we introduce the right technology solutions and platforms for the customer need, whether GIS for spatial analysis or any proprietary programming based framework. What separates us apart from others is our comprehensive understanding of complexity in projects and the technology blueprint to provide the innovative layouts, best of the communication networks, a solution that reduces operational costs and enhances safety.

MWB’s expertise in multi-level junctions shines in projects where urban constraints demand innovative layouts. Our use of 3D modeling, simulation tools, and ITS-enabled traffic management systems resulted in junctions that improved throughput significantly compared to the traditional designs. MWB has embraced sustainability as a core design principle. These designs incorporate ITS for dynamic traffic and environmental monitoring, ensuring long-term viability and reduced ecological impact.

“At MWB, our mission is to transform challenges into opportunities. With innovation and collaboration at our core, we design infrastructure that is not only functional but also forward-thinking and sustainable.”
Founder & CEO, MWB

Looking Forward,

Engineering excellence in urban infrastructure projects requires a blend of innovation, adaptability, and technical mastery. MWB’s experience in deploying ITS, SCADA, and sustainable design principles positions us as leaders in addressing the complexities of modern urban development. By continuously pushing boundaries and embracing emerging technologies, we aim to shape resilient, intelligent cities that meet the demands of today and tomorrow.