Portugal: Data-driven electric bus fleets worldwide

Stratio Automotive is a Portuguese deep-tech company specialising in remote predictive maintenance for public transport fleets. Its core innovation is a software-as-a-service platform powered by artificial intelligence, which detects anomalies and anticipates failures in electric vehicles, reducing downtime and operational costs.

Stratio Automotive faced two challenges it aimed to address in Eureka projects: to accelerate research in electric vehicle battery monitoring and expand internationally. Motivated by Eureka’s unique blend of competitive funding, partner matchmaking and market validation, the Portuguese company launched its first Eureka project, Battery Cortex, in partnership with Caetano Bus, a Portuguese manufacturer of public transport vehicles, and the University of Almstad in Sweden.

Eureka allowed us to dream bigger and execute faster. Thanks to Eurostars and Innowwide, our technology now keeps over 17,000 buses running reliably across Europe, Asia and South America.

Paulo Bajouco – Chief Financial Officer at Stratio Automotive

Trained on real public bus routes spanning millions of kilometres, the project team successfully developed artificial intelligence models that remotely assess electric vehicle battery health and performance. These were integrated into Stratio Automotive’s scalable software, creating the world’s largest predictive dataset for public transport fleets.

Building on the success of Battery Cortex, Stratio Automotive initiated a second Eureka project, ZeroDowntime Brazil, to validate the commercial viability of its software in Brazil’s public transport sector. To better align with the Brazilian market, the Portuguese company added new features based on customer feedback, such as remote shutdown for idling vehicles to reduce fuel consumption.

As part of ZeroDowntime Brazil, local company Densyx helped Stratio Automotive conduct a PESTLE analysis, review legislation and connect with potential customers. Subsequently, Stratio Automotive opened a subsidiary in Brazil, won a large contract covering around 1,000 vehicles for intercity passenger transport with Guanabara, a flagship public transport operator and created a pipeline of future clients.

International collaboration through Eureka helped Stratio Automotive foster a culture of data-driven research and outcome-oriented innovation. Eureka reduced both technology and market risks, enhancing the credibility for international expansion.

Since, Stratio Automotive has doubled its turnover and increased exports by 30%. Its software is monitoring the performance of 17,000 electric buses across Europe, Singapore and Brazil thanks to contracts with Arriva, Keolis, ComfortDelGro and Guanabara. Its subscription model is scalable and resilient to long-term changes.

With electric buses already an energy efficient public transport option, Stratio Automotive’s software has the potential to make them even greener and more reliable for users, reshaping smart mobility structures for cities and supply chains.