A little-known Croatian startup is coming to the robotaxi market with help from Uber

Mate Rimac, founder of the Croatian electric car maker, Rimac Group, started working on electric robots seven years ago. Now, part of his vision will come to fruition through a strategic partnership between Uber, Chinese ride-hailing company Pony.ai, and his robotaxi startup Verne.

The three companies announced plans Thursday to launch a commercial robot service in Europe, starting in Zagreb, Croatia. Pony.ai will provide an autonomous driving system and a robot called the Arcfox Alpha T5 which was developed with the Chinese car manufacturer BAIC. Verne will own and operate the fleet, and Uber will provide its vast network of rides.

The giant also revealed that it intends to invest an undisclosed amount in Verne and support future expansion as a strategic partner.

The companies did not give an exact date for the launch of 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 United States. But it has the same big ambitions.

The Verne began 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 holds 23% of the shares in the group.

There were occasional updates about the project, but it wasn’t until July 2024 – when Verne presented a 100 million euro grant – that the public took a closer look at its plans.

Rimac’s vision has always been for Verne to operate an urban robotics service with two-seater electric vehicles. That might sound strange to the man behind the Nevera, an electric hypercar that starts at 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 could drive — because he believed autonomous vehicle technology would make that business obsolete.

“It’s going to take a while, but it’s coming, I’m sure of that,” he told me at the time.

Verne is not developing its own self-driving system. Instead, the company is focusing on an electric urban vehicle, a walking app, and the backend infrastructure for managing vehicles, including cleaning and maintenance.

Verne plans to produce robotaxi EVs at a new plant in Lučko, Croatia, which is expected to start operating later this year.

Verne hasn’t introduced the two-seater yet, and he didn’t provide an update on the cars in his announcement about Uber and Pony.ai. The company said in November that it had produced and tested 60 validation prototypes.

For now, Verne’s robot service will use Pony.ai-BAIC’s vehicle, the Arcfox Alpha T5. Users will be able to hail one through Uber and through the Verne app.

Verne is getting off to a slow start with its commercial launch, but has plans to ramp up to “fleets of thousands of robots over the next few years,” according to Thursday’s announcement. And its ambitions extend beyond the borders of Zagreb, the capital of Croatia and home of the Rimac Group.

“Europe needs independent mobility that can go from testing to real service,” Verne CEO Marko Pejkovic said in a statement. “At Verne, we are bringing together the technology, platform, and manpower needed to make this happen, starting in Zagreb before moving on to new markets.”