Verne

Verne is the consumer robotaxi brand that emerged from within the orbit of Mate Rimac, the Croatian entrepreneur who founded Rimac Automobili — creators of some of the world's fastest and most expensive electric hypercars — and who serves today as CEO of Bugatti Rimac. Established in Croatia in 2024, Verne positions itself as an urban autonomous mobility operator with a specific commercial goal: to launch an accessible, comfortable robotaxi service built not on vertically integrated hardware development but on a strategic partnership model combining best-in-class components from established leaders in their respective domains. The strategic contrast with how Tesla and Waymo have approached autonomous vehicle development is deliberate and philosophically meaningful. Both companies have invested billions developing their own vehicle hardware and their own autonomy software stacks from scratch — a vertically integrated approach that demands extraordinary capital and many years before a commercial service can realistically scale. Verne has chosen a different architecture: it combines electric vehicles sourced from established manufacturing partners with the autonomy software of Pony.ai, one of the world's most technically advanced self-driving companies with significant commercial deployment experience in China, and with the demand aggregation network of Uber, which provides immediate access to the largest ride-hailing user base globally. Verne's role in this structure is to operate the service and design the end-to-end rider experience, rather than reinventing hardware or developing autonomy algorithms from zero. Rimac's contribution to the venture extends beyond founder credibility, which his track record with Rimac Automobili provides abundantly. His decade of practical experience managing high-performance electric powertrain engineering, navigating complex automotive supply chain relationships, and building a world-class engineering team in Croatia translates directly into the technical judgment, supplier relationships, and organizational capability that an autonomous mobility program requires. His reputation in the global automotive and technology investment communities also helps attract both engineering talent and investor capital in a sector that is intensely competitive for both. The initial commercial launch is planned for Zagreb, where Rimac has established relationships with local authorities, regulatory familiarity built through his existing automotive business, and genuine roots in the community. European expansion is expected to follow as the technology matures and regulatory frameworks in other markets develop to accommodate commercial robotaxi services. Verne enters this space at a historically significant moment. After years of outsized expectations and delayed timelines, commercial robotaxi deployment is becoming real in a small number of cities globally. Europe, which has lagged the United States and China in autonomous vehicle commercialization, is actively looking for credible domestic champions before American and Chinese operators define the market's economics and standards on their own terms. Verne is positioning itself to play that role.