News

Wisdom Motor Brings First Zero-Emission Bus To GCC

The company is supporting the Abu Dhabi International Transport Centre’s Green Bus Assessment program that forms part of the UAE’s sustainability agenda.

Published

3 years ago

November 30, 2023

Nour Nasir

Wisdom Motor

Wisdom Motor, a Chinese technology company that designs zero-emission commercial vehicles, has announced a cooperation with the Integrated Transport Centre (ITC) in Abu Dhabi.

The partnership aims to provide new green mobility solutions, the first of which, a 12-meter Hydrogen City Bus, uses fuel cells to achieve a range of 500 km, while reducing CO2 by 105 kg per 100 km of travel.

Mr. Cliff Zhang, Chairman of the board of directors of Wisdom Motor, commented: “We are proud to partner with the ITC to bring our cutting-edge technology and customized hydrogen-powered vehicles to Abu Dhabi. This cooperation not only reinforces the quality and competitiveness of Wisdom Motor but is also a significant milestone for our company in entering the GCC market”.

So far, Wisdom Motor’s zero-emission commercial vehicles have achieved several milestones and continue to expand globally. The company builds its highly customizable vehicles at a production hub of over 480,000 sq m in Fujian, China.

Wisdom Motor aims to disrupt the competitive commercial sector with short turnarounds and custom engineering, including state-of-the-art monocoque structures and in-house-made composite materials. So far, the company has won contracts in the UK, Germany, France, the Nordics, Australia, Japan and Korea.

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Near its headquarters in Hong Kong, a fleet of Wisdom Motor tri-axle, hydrogen-powered double-decker buses are already in service, acting as proof-of-concept for long-distance commercial transportation using hydrogen.

Hydrogen offers several advantages over conventional fuels: It is lightweight, nearly three times the energy density of diesel per unit of mass, and produces zero emissions. In each operating market, Wisdom Motor works with partners to develop the infrastructure needed to make hydrogen fuel a viable solution.

News

Abu Dhabi’s Robot Kitchen Is Serving Up Biryani, Not Burgers

Circus SE wants to put a tiny automated factory inside the buildings where Gulf residents live and work, bypassing part of last-mile delivery.

Published

4 days ago

October 20, 2026

Nour Nasir

abu dhabi's robot kitchen is serving up biryani not burgers

Circus SE

The most telling thing about a new autonomous kitchen now running in Abu Dhabi’s Marina Square is what it won’t cook:

“We don’t do fast food,” says Nikolas Bullwinkel, Founder and CEO of Circus SE. “We’ve actively decided not to build a machine that can only do burgers”.

Instead, the CA-1 system is built around pot-based cooking: curries, pastas, soups and rice dishes. After experimenting with highly personalized recipes, Circus deliberately leaned back toward recognizable food. “We’re going with a chicken biryani because you know it,” Bullwinkel says of the AED 40 dish.

circus se ca-1 robot system

The Germany-based robotics and food technology company operates across eight countries, and Abu Dhabi is its first deployment outside Europe. More locations are expected there and in Dubai.

In Germany, its units can be placed in supermarkets, gas stations, airports and hospitals. In the Gulf, Bullwinkel wants them inside residential and office buildings, replacing some of the complexity of last-mile delivery. “We’re basically bringing a very tiny factory a few square meters into your building,” he says. Catering company Royal Prestige supplies the ingredients and knowledge of local tastes.

The CA-1 manages up to 36 refrigerated ingredient silos alongside automated induction cooking, robotic plating and a self-cleaning dishwasher. Two robotic arms move ingredients through the system with minimal human intervention. It can produce up to 120 hot meals an hour, and a meal such as rice and curry can take around three to four minutes.

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Five cameras and multiple sensors monitor heat, temperature and consistency, an attempt to approximate what a chef perceives. “You can hear something gets burned, you can smell it, you can see it at some point,” Bullwinkel says. CircusOS, the company’s operating system, adjusts recipes in real time.

You might think of the platform as a threat to kitchen staff, but Bullwinkel frames Circus as a way for chefs to develop recipes and distribute them at scale. With that being said, rising labor costs and shortages are also part of his case for automation.