Verne, the autonomous mobility company spun out of Croatian hypercar maker Rimac, launched commercial robotaxi rides in Zagreb on 8 April alongside Pony.ai and Uber. The vehicles operate with safety operators onboard for now. Waymo is targeting London for Q4 2026.
Verne, the autonomous mobility company spun out of Croatian electric hypercar maker Rimac Group, has launched what it is calling Europe’s first commercial robotaxi service in Zagreb, Croatia. From 8 April, members of the public can book and pay for autonomous rides through the Verne app.
The service will shortly also be available through the Uber platform, following a three-way partnership announced on 26 March between Verne, Pony.ai, and Uber.
The vehicles in service are Arcfox Alpha T5 robotaxis equipped with Pony.ai’s seventh-generation autonomous driving system. They operate autonomously, but trained safety operators are onboard during this early phase of the rollout.
The three companies have said they aim to transition to fully driverless operations as soon as regulatory approvals and safety performance benchmarks allow.
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Under the partnership structure, Pony.ai provides the autonomous driving technology; Verne owns the fleet and manages operations on the ground, including regulatory approvals; and Uber integrates the service into its ride-hailing platform.
Uber is also investing in Verne as a strategic partner.
The result is surprising in geographic terms. Zagreb is a city of under a million people, and Europe’s most prominent autonomous mobility efforts have been concentrated in larger western markets, Waymo has announced plans for a fully driverless service in London in the fourth quarter of 2026, and Germany has hosted multiple competing programmes for years.
Verne’s Croatian origins explain part of the answer. The company has spent years in close discussion with Zagreb’s regulators and local authorities, a process made easier by its ties to Rimac, which is headquartered in the city and is one of Croatia’s highest-profile technology companies.
Marko Pejković, Verne’s co-founder and CEO, said the launch delivered on a commitment the company had made publicly: “We said we would launch in Zagreb in 2026. Today, we did. This is just the start.”
Verne’s current service uses Pony.ai’s technology rather than its own platform, which is still in development. The company originally planned to use Mobileye’s autonomous driving system before switching to Pony.ai ahead of the launch.
Verne has a factory near Zagreb that is expected to begin producing its own purpose-built robotaxi this year, a compact two-seat vehicle with no steering wheel or pedals, designed from the ground up for driverless ride-hailing.
The Arcfox Alpha T5 deployment is understood to be a bridging arrangement while that vehicle reaches production readiness. Beyond Zagreb, Verne has begun permitting discussions with 11 cities across the EU, UK, and the Middle East, with more than 30 additional cities under active consideration.
For Pony.ai, which listed on Nasdaq in late 2024, the Zagreb launch is the first deployment of its technology in commercial service outside China, where it recently reached unit economics breakeven in two tier-one cities.
