The Rimac Group describes Verne, its new autonomous ride-hailing service, as its “next impossible thing.” First, founder Mate Rimac established his eponymous electric hypercar company in Croatia, a country with no history of carmaking. That went well. Porsche, Hyundai, and Softbank all took stakes. The Volkswagen Group gifted him a majority stake in Bugatti in return for access to his propulsion tech in future models.
Rimac Technology now supplies electric drivetrains to Porsche, BMW, and Aston Martin, among many others, and it is developing advanced energy storage tech, too.
And now there's Verne, Mate's autonomous ride-hailing service launched today in Zagreb, the Croatian capital. Named after French novelist and futurist Jules Verne, it goes live in Zagreb first in 2026, followed by Manchester in the UK. Agreements have been signed to bring the service to another nine cities in Europe and the Middle East, and Verne is in talks to roll out to another 30 cities worldwide.
So can this ambitious but fast-moving startup from a tiny nation do the near-impossible and get a robust robotaxi service in operation before most of the other players in this space—including Tesla, which reveals its own robotaxi in August?
Don't bet against it. Verne was founded by Mate and two of his closest colleagues and friends: Marko Pejković, now CEO of Verne, and Adriano Mudri, the designer of the Rimac Nevera hypercar and now chief design officer at Verne. The Rimac Group has a 47 percent stake in Verne, with investors including Hyundai and the Saudi government holding the rest.
The idea has been in development since at least 2019. Verne already employs 280 staff, and at its global launch revealed a complete-looking ecosystem of app, car, and “mothership” buildings, to which the vehicles will return to be charged and cleaned.
The Verne taxi is a pretty, compact coupe—unlike Waymo's toy-town I-Paces—and is conventionally configured for a bespoke autonomous vehicle which doesn't need to incorporate a steering wheel, pedals, or even a windscreen.
It has twin sliding doors giving access to a two-seat cabin, with research showing that 90 percent of ride-hailing trips of any kind have only one or two riders. It's a surprisingly business-class inside for a vehicle that will mainly do short urban trips, with a 43-inch widescreen ahead of the forward-facing occupants, a 17-speaker audio system, and five-position reclining seats.
The accompanying app will configure your ride in advance with your chosen seating position, cabin temperature, lighting, and, yes, even scent—which will ideally not be that of the previous occupant.
“We can satisfy most trips with a two-seater and create unmatched interior space in a compact-size vehicle,” designer Mudri says. “There is more space inside than a Rolls-Royce to relax and spend your time. We optimized the door opening so people can just step in and sit down straight away. Sliding doors were designed not to obstruct traffic flow around the vehicle.”
"Once inside, passengers can stretch out and get comfortable. We wanted to make the interior less automotive and more like a living room. There is no typical dashboard, no steering wheel, and no pedals, but an ultrawide display that you can use for entertainment and to get information about the journey during the ride.”
“We managed to achieve a sleek design despite the additional content compared to regular cars. We integrated cameras, radars, short- and long-distance lidars, and their cleaning systems,” Mudri says. “At the same time, we were able to simplify the appearance by removing the typical human-driven vehicle features. We got rid of the windshield wipers and the side-view mirrors. This makes for better aerodynamic performance and easier cleaning. But one typical element of an automobile we kept is the trunk—so don't worry if you‘re going to the airport or just did a major grocery shop.”
The cars will be built at a new factory in Zagreb, with Rimac's new 80,000-square-meter campus in the city already being occupied with other projects. Although Mate Rimac has worked on autonomous driving systems and believes in deep vertical integration—developing all the major systems for the Nevera in-house—the self-driving tech in the Verne car is in fact supplied by Mobileye, and uses a combination of the aforementioned cameras, radar, and lidars. The system has been tested extensively on Zagreb's roads, installed in Nio EVs, with the first prototype Verne cars hitting the road late this year.
The cost of trips will vary with location, but Verne claims that it will be competitive with conventional rivals such as Uber, while at the same time offering a more premium experience. Verne will wholly own its operations at first as it rolls out to other cities, but will explore franchise and partnership agreements later.
“The end result would be the best possible mobility experience for everyone,” Mate Rimac says. “This means that every customer will have a better experience than the best mobility services enjoyed by the very rich, through a service that is affordable for all. You will have a safe and reliable driver, a vehicle with more interior space and comfort than the best limousines, and a service that will be tailored to your needs in every possible way.”
“The service will also provide customers with more than just transportation. It frees up your time to think, learn, or relax. We want to shift the attention from the technology to its benefits,” Mate Rimac says.
