Rimac ventures to driverless cars with Verne robotaxi

RoboTaxi service to start in Europe in 2026

After merging with Bugatti in 2021, the electric hypercar maker Rimac is looking at realizing fully autonomous driving and mobility.

The Croatian startup has ventured to driverless cars with the Verne RoboTaxi concept, named after 19th-century French writer Jules Verne who wrote sci-fi adventure novels such as Journey to the Center of the Earth and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas.

The Verne Robotaxi eliminates all driving controls, scrapping features from human-driven cars such as side mirrors, and even windshield wipers to create a more streamlined silhouette.

The odd shape of the exterior is a result of designing the car from the inside out. There are plenty of cameras and sensors at various points of the body, including a periscope at the roof which hints its fully autonomous capabilities.

Inside, the self-driving pod maximizes space for two passengers. In fact, Rimac even claims the cabin has more room than a Rolls Royce. The Verne concept has its doors slide open to minimize traffic flow disruption and for easy ingress / egress. As it is an autonomous vehicle, the Verne concept does not have a steering wheel or even pedals.

What you instead get is an interior that looks like a living room on wheels. A 43-inch screen dominates the dashboard, while there’s a 17-speaker sound system inside and the seats have functions to increase comfort.

For now, Rimac has yet to share the fully-electric powertrain of the Verne concept, but the self-driving system was developed with Mobileye – an Israeli company that Intel has a majority stake on. The Verne concept has the Mobileye Drive autonomous architecture that’s comprised of lidar sensors, cameras, and radar. The company claims the system is designed to suit various road types and weather conditions while adapting to the local driving styles of its environment.

Currently, Verne is building its production facility in Croatia before launching the first robotaxi service in Zagreb by 2026. After that, Verne is looking to offer the robotaxi service in Europe and in the Middle East where it has already signed agreements.