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

Summary

Mate Rimac, the founder of Croatian electric vehicle maker Rimac Group, started working on electric robotaxis 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 robotaxi startup Verne. The three companies announced plans Thursday to launch a commercial robotaxi service in Europe, starting in Zagreb, Croatia. Pony.ai will supply the autonomous driving system and a robotaxi called the Arcfox Alpha T5 that was developed with Chinese automaker BAIC. Verne will own and operate the fleet, and Uber will provide its vast ride-hailing network. The ride-hailing giant also indicated it intends to invest an undisclosed amount into Verne and support future expansion as a strategic partner. The companies didn’t provide a specific launch date for the commercial service, though on-road testing in Zagreb — where Rimac Group is based — is 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 outsized ambitions. Verne started in 2019 as a project called Project 3 Mobility (or P3) within Rimac Group, a growing ecosystem of companies that includes hypercar maker Rimac Bugatti, Rimac Energy, and Rimac Technology. Mate Rimac holds a 23% stake in the group. There were occasional updates about the project, but it wasn’t until July 2024 — when Verne launched with 100 million euros in funding — that the public got a more detailed look at its plans. Techcrunch event San Francisco, CA | October 13-15, 2026 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 couple of years ago, Rimac was never interested in making a high-volume EV that humans would drive — precisely...