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The increasing use of autonomous vehicles in urban public transport requires the development of efficient strategies to reduce energy consumption without involving costly hardware modifications. This paper investigates the energy efficiency optimization of the propulsion system for an autonomous shuttle bus through the implementation of an intelligent software control strategy for acceleration, based on coasting. The study combines a theoretical analysis of the electric propulsion system architecture and eco-driving algorithms with a detailed co-simulation implementation using the IPG CarMaker and MATLAB-Simulink platforms. As a case study, a virtual model of the EasyMile EZ10 autonomous shuttle, simulated on the profile of a real urban route in Cluj-Napoca, is analyzed. Energy performance is evaluated by comparing four simulation scenarios, corresponding to speed limits of 30 km/h and 50 km/h, with and without the proposed optimization strategy. The results indicate an energy consumption reduction of approximately 16% at 30 km/h and over 35% at 50 km/h, without compromising the total travel time. The conclusions demonstrate that the software optimization of driving strategies can significantly improve the energy efficiency of autonomous vehicles intended for urban public transport, offering a viable solution for sustainable mobility.