Quick takeaway: Mate Rimac’s robotaxi startup Verne has announced a strategic partnership with Uber and Chinese autonomous driving company Pony.ai to launch a commercial robotaxi service in Zagreb, Croatia. Pony.ai supplies the self-driving system and the Arcfox Alpha T5 vehicle, Verne will operate the fleet, and Uber will provide ride-hailing reach and strategic investment. On-road testing is already under way, with plans to scale to thousands of robotaxis.
What’s happening and who’s involved
A three-way partnership announced this week names Verne, Uber, and Pony.ai as the founding partners for Europe’s first commercial robotaxi service based in Zagreb. Roles are split across the three companies:
- Pony.ai: Provides the autonomous driving system and the Arcfox Alpha T5 robotaxi developed with BAIC.
- Verne: Owns and operates the fleet, builds the urban EV platform and fleet operations (cleaning, maintenance, back-end management).
- Uber: Supplies the ride-hailing network, will enable hailing via its app, and plans an undisclosed strategic investment in Verne.
Why Zagreb and why Verne?
Verne began in 2019 as Project 3 Mobility inside Mate Rimac’s wider Rimac Group, an ecosystem that includes Rimac Bugatti and Rimac Technology. Rimac — who holds roughly a 23% stake in the group — has long argued that purpose-built autonomous urban EVs are the future. Verne focuses on the vehicle design, fleet software, and operations rather than building its own self-driving stack.
Zagreb, the headquarters of Rimac Group, is the starting point for testing and the commercial rollout. Verne also plans to produce robotaxi EVs at a new factory in Lučko, Croatia, expected to start operations later this year.
Vehicles, testing, and current status
Although Verne’s own two-seater robotaxi hasn’t been publicly launched, the initial commercial service will use Pony.ai’s self-driving system installed on the Arcfox Alpha T5 (a vehicle co-developed with BAIC). Verne previously said it had produced and tested about 60 verification prototypes as part of development work.
There’s no firm public launch date yet, but on-road testing in Zagreb is already underway. Users will be able to hail robotaxis via Uber and Verne’s own app once the service launches.
Ambitions and scale
Verne is starting small, but the stated goal is to scale to a fleet of thousands of robotaxis over the next few years and to expand beyond Croatia into new European markets. As Verne CEO Marko Pejkovic put it, Europe needs autonomous mobility that moves from testing to real service, and Verne aims to deliver the combined technology, platform, and operations required to do that.
Key takeaways for the autonomous vehicle market
- Europe is getting a serious commercial robotaxi contender outside the better-known US and Chinese players.
- Strategic partnerships — combining autonomy specialists (Pony.ai), vehicle and operations expertise (Verne/Rimac), and distribution platforms (Uber) — are becoming the practical route to early commercial services.
- Even with bold plans and funding, timelines remain cautious: testing is ongoing and a concrete launch date has not been announced.
Bottom line: Verne’s collaboration with Pony.ai and Uber places Croatia on the map of early commercial robotaxi deployments. With a local factory in Lučko, existing prototypes, and Uber’s network and investment, Zagreb could become an early European showcase for autonomous urban mobility.