Verne autonomous taxi launches in Croatia. It was supposed to be a proprietary vehicle, but it’s Chinese; it was meant to have Mobileye, but it uses Chinese Pony AI.

Rimac received funding from the European Union in 2021 to develop a project aimed at launching an autonomous taxi service. And it did launch it: using the 200 million euros received (equivalent to today’s 860 million zł), it acquired the Chinese Arcfox Alpha T5, equipped with Chinese autonomous driving technology from Pony AI, to transport selected passengers on a route from its Verne headquarters to the airport in Zagreb, Croatia.

Rimac’s autonomous taxi. Are these funds supposed to be refunded?

In 2024, Rimac unveiled its concept for a robotaxi called Verne. It was illogical in terms of space utilization, oddly styled aesthetically, and heavily altered visually in some areas—for example, it was difficult to understand how the door-opening mechanism worked to allow easy entry without interfering with the battery in the floor. As editors at Elektrowozu, we were skeptical:

It seems we might have been right. Nothing remains of the original concept; now the autonomous taxi is the Arcfox Alpha T5 equipped with the Pony.AI system instead of the previously announced Mobileye Drive. In January, BAIC and Pony.ai boasted in China — independent of Verne or other partners — that they had reached a “milestone in production” by manufacturing over 600 units of the car fitted with the latest version (“Gen-7”) of Pony AI’s solutions. These vehicles have already been operating in Beijing and Shenzhen, with the artificial intelligence company announcing plans to develop vehicle-related services aimed at popularizing and commercializing autonomous taxis.

The Arcfox Alpha T5 equipped with Pony.ai solutions on the BAIC production line (c) Pony AI

It seems this “commercialization” is going well, as the idea (and vehicles) were successfully sold to a Croatian company for EU funds. The Verne taxis have just started their first independent trips from the Verne headquarters to the airport — and back. Their task doesn’t appear difficult: they drive onto the highway, exit it, approach the terminal, and that’s it (Google Maps HERE). So far (since April), nine Verne Arcfoks have been operating in Zagreb, but with a supervising driver. Now there’s no driver; instead, there’s a remote operator on standby (source).

The vehicles can be ordered through Uber, and for a long time, rides were available at the promotional price of 1.99 euros.

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