It has been a long time since there was talk of Mate Rimacthe young Croatian entrepreneur who created his own brand of electric sports cars and thanks to its success, bought the majority shareholding in Bugatti together with Porsche. Rimac made the news a couple of years ago with the launch of the Fridgethe most powerful 100% electric supercar in the world with which it broke all the acceleration and speed records it has ever set.
However, only with the recent presentation of the Bugatti Tourbillon, the first hybrid model of the prestigious French brand of high-performance vehicles, Rimac once again had high-impact public appearances. Coinciding or not with the current moment that electric mobility is going through around the world, with a slowdown in demand that cannot be hidden, this reappearance on the scene of the Croatian businessman was related to a hybrid vehicle and not an electric one.
Just a few days after that Bugatti event, Rimac was in the news again and again it is not for an electric car but for one that, although it uses that propulsion technology, has another leading element to attract attention: the autonomous driving.
Indeed, Rimac has a specific division within its company for the development of autonomous vehicles designed for the transportation of passengers without a driver. And just like Elon Musk He named his car brand Tesla in homage to Nicholas Teslaa Croatian who revolutionized the world with the application of electricity in the 19th century, Rimac adopted the name Verne for his brand of robotaxis – or robot taxis – as a tribute to Julio Vernethe French writer who imagined the Nautilus in his work “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”.
But Verne is not a car brand, but rather a mobility ecosystem. Rimac will develop the vehicle as such and leaves for its partner, a company specialized in Artificial intelligence and autonomous driving called Mobileyeeverything related to the technology necessary for the operation of the system in an integral manner.
The car itself has a configuration of a two-seaterwhich goes in the opposite direction to that of other existing robotaxi services such as Cruise or Waymo, which reserve up to four seats for passengers. Verne’s decision to go this route is a study in which, they say, 90% of the people who use that service, They go alone or with a companion at most.
Taking advantage of this status as a small car, a customizable and much more comfortable design has been created than any conventional car can have, with reclining seats, a circular glazed panoramic roof and a large front screen with infotainment, since this vehicle does not have a steering wheel or human driver position. Access is through the sliding side doors, which open with the validation of a code in a phone app or with one that is entered manually on an exterior keyboard, and which is also sent to the passenger. through your mobile phone.
Among the configurable options, users will be able to decide before getting into the vehicle, aspects such as background music, the interior light for night trips, and even the aroma they want to feel on board. Inside, the robotaxi has a sound system of 17 speakers, seats with five levels of comfort to allow passengers to work, relax or rest depending on their need or taste, and something very interesting, a button called “Median” located in the center console, which allows passengers to start and stop the trip whenever they want to do so. The idea of this device is to help convince users who might be skeptical about autonomous technology to try the service knowing that if they don’t want to continue, they can simply hit the button to stop. interrupt the trip and leave.
In it ecosystem which has been designed to be set up in the cities where the Verne service operates, there is an operations center, which they call Nursing Mother, which is also the place from which the cars leave and where they return for maintenance, cleaning and charging the batteries. The cars They cannot be purchased for private use. The ecosystem is designed so that they only work in fleets of the brand and provide a temporary rental service.
Verne will manufacture his robotaxi in his new factory that he is currently building near Zagreb, capital of Croatia. This will also be the first location where start service in 2026. In a second stage, when the system has been tested and developed, it will be expanded to other countries in Europe and the Middle East. As reported by Verner, agreements have already been signed with 11 cities and negotiations are underway with more than 30 cities around the world.
