Mate Rimac, founder of Croatian electric car maker Rimac Group, started working on electric robotaxis seven years ago. Now, part of his vision is becoming a reality through a strategic partnership between Uber, Chinese self-driving car company Pony.ai, and his own robotaxi startup Verne.
The three companies on Thursday announced plans to launch a commercial robotaxi service in Europe, starting in Zagreb, Croatia. Pony.ai will supply self-driving systems and a robotaxi called Arcfox Alpha T5, developed with Chinese automaker BAIC. Vern owns and operates the fleet, while Uber provides the vast ride-hailing network.
The ride-hailing giant also said it intends to invest an undisclosed amount in Vern and support its future expansion as a strategic partner.
The companies have not disclosed a specific date for the commercial launch of the service, but road tests have already begun in Zagreb, where Rimac Group is based.
Byrne doesn’t have the same name recognition as Waymo or Tesla, at least in the United States. But it has the same big ambitions.
Verne started in 2019 as a project called Project 3 Mobility (or P3) within the Rimac Group, a growing ecosystem of companies that includes hypercar makers Bugatti Rimac, Rimac Energy and Rimac Technology. Mate Rimac holds 23% of the group’s shares.
There have been occasional updates about the project, but the public didn’t learn more about its plans until July 2024, when Verne launched it with €100 million in funding.
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Rimac’s vision was for Vern to operate an urban robotaxi service using purpose-built two-seater electric vehicles. That may sound like a strange mission for the person behind the Nevera, an electric hypercar that starts at about $2.2 million. But as he explained to this reporter several years ago, Rimac had no interest in building mass-produced, human-driven electric vehicles — precisely because he believed self-driving car technology would make that business obsolete.
“It’s going to take some time, but it’s going to happen. I’m sure of that,” he told me at the time.
Verne is not developing its own self-driving system. Instead, the company is focused on urban electric vehicles, ride-hailing apps, and the backend infrastructure for managing vehicles, including cleaning and maintenance.
Baan plans to produce robotaxi EVs at a new factory in Lučko, Croatia, which is expected to begin operations later this year.
Verne has not yet launched a two-seater vehicle, and its announcements with Uber and Pony.ai did not provide any updates about the vehicle. The company announced in November that it had built and tested 60 validation prototypes.
Currently, Verne’s robotaxi service uses a Pony.ai-BAIC vehicle, the Arcfox Alpha T5. Users can call via Uber as well as Verne’s app.
Thursday’s announcement said Verne is starting small with commercial launches, but plans to scale up to “a fleet of thousands of robotaxis over the next few years.” And its aspirations extend far beyond the borders of Zagreb, Croatia’s capital and home of Rimac Group.
“Europe needs autonomous mobility that can move from testing to real service,” Verne CEO Marko Pejković said in a statement. “At Verne, we will bring together the technology, platform and operational capabilities needed to make this happen, starting in Zagreb and expanding into new markets.”
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