Mate Rimac, the founder of the Croatian electric car manufacturer Rimac Group, started working on electric robot axis seven years ago. Now part of his vision is coming to fruition through a strategic partnership between Uber, Chinese autonomous vehicle company Pony.ai and his own robot taxi startup Verne.
The three companies announced plans Thursday to launch a commercial robotaxi service in Europe, starting in Zagreb, Croatia. Pony.ai will provide the autonomous driving system and a robotic axle called the Arcfox Alpha T5, which was developed with Chinese automaker BAIC. Verne will own and operate the fleet, and Uber will provide its vast network of ride-hailing services.
The ride-hailing giant also indicated that it intends to invest an undisclosed amount in Verne and support future expansion as a strategic partner.
The companies did not provide a specific launch date for the commercial service, although road tests in Zagreb – where Rimac Group is based – are already underway.
Verne doesn’t have the same name recognition as Waymo or Tesla – at least not in the US. But it has the same outsized 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 maker Rimac Bugatti, Rimac Energy and Rimac Technology. Mate Rimac has an ownership stake of 23% in the group.
There were occasional updates on the project, but it wasn’t until July 2024 — when Verne launched with €100 million in funding — that the public got a more detailed look at its plans.
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Rimac’s vision has always been for Verne to operate an urban robotaxi service with purpose-built two-seater electric vehicles. That might sound like an odd mission for the person behind the Nevera, an electric hypercar that starts around $2.2 million. But as he explained to this reporter a few years ago, Rimac was never interested in making a high-volume EV that people would drive — precisely because he believes autonomous vehicle technologies will make that business obsolete.
“It will take a while, but it will come, I’m sure,” he had told me at the time.
Verne is not developing its own self-driving system. Instead, the company is focused on the urban electric vehicle, the ride-hailing app and the back-end infrastructure to manage the fleet, including cleaning and maintenance.
Verne plans to produce its robotaxi EVs at a new factory in Lučko, Croatia, expected to begin operations later this year.
Verne has yet to launch the two seats, nor did it provide an update on the vehicles in its announcement with Uber and Pony.ai. The company said in November that it had produced and tested 60 verification prototypes.
For now, the Verne robotaxi service will use the Pony.ai-BAIC vehicle, the Arcfox Alpha T5. Users will be able to hail one via Uber as well as through Verne’s own app.
Verne is starting small with its commercial launch, but it plans to scale to a “fleet of thousands of robotic axes over the next few years,” according to Thursday’s announcement. And its aspirations go far beyond the borders of Zagreb, Croatia’s capital and home of the Rimac Group.
“Europe needs autonomous mobility that can move from testing to a real service,” Verne CEO Marko Pejkovic said in a statement. “At Verne, we are bringing together the technology, platform and operational capabilities required to make this a reality, starting in Zagreb before expanding into new markets.”