From building electric hypercars to stewardship of Bugatti to developing next-generation EV tech for major automakers, Rimac certainly has a unique set of talents. However, the firm’s next project might be its most ambitious, most difficult one yet. This is a ground-up autonomous electric taxi called Verne, and it should be hitting the streets of Zagreb in 2026. No existing cars with stuck-on sensors here.
Right off the rip, this electric autonomous vehicle features a bubbly, compact design that looks at least somewhat friendly. Perhaps automotive design has featured too many aggressive silhouettes as of late, because although the Verne isn’t as puppy-adorable as say, a Geo Metro convertible, it strikes a non-threatening pose, even when bathed in a blueish shade of silver. The forward-sliding doors are a nice touch, and it’s neat to see a PIN pad on the B-pillar, which will presumably be used for access.
While the form factor of a two-seater sounds strange, there’s a good reason for the Verne to adopt it. Rimac claims that most taxi rides only involve one or two passengers, so building a two-seater makes a lot of sense. Unless you’re a messy human who thrives off of chaos, you probably aren’t taking an Uber Pool or sharing a cab with strangers.
Likewise, the seats echo the differences between an autonomous vehicle and a human-driven semi-autonomous vehicle by looking more like loungers than traditional automotive buckets. With no need to fit a driving position, why not kick back and be comfortable with footrests and plenty of recline?
Speaking of kicking back, check out the 43-inch display atop the dashboard, ready to fill passengers’ entertainment needs. Unusually, it’s controlled by a touchpad in the console, and while that setup hasn’t been massively successful in other cars, you won’t have to operate the touchpad while driving this one, so it might actually work.
Because it’s a real autonomous vehicle, the Verne doesn’t need to be bothered with such human necessities as side-view mirrors and windshield wipers. After all, a sophisticated sensor suite including radar, lidar, and cameras has different cleaning needs than a windscreen, and without a steering wheel onboard, going without these assemblies simplifies things a touch.
Through the Verne app, riders will be able to preselect things like cabin temperature to ensure that every ride is more or less the same. Of course, maintaining that comforting McDonald’s-like familiarity will require regular cleaning of each vehicle, so they’re expected to return to a type of home base once a day for check-ups, recharging, and cleaning.
As for the concept of an automated taxi itself: even setting feasibility aside, it has pros and cons. On the one hand, autonomous taxis could put skilled taxi drivers out of a job. On the other, ride-hailing apps have turned what used to be a skilled task into something anyone with a driver’s license and a new enough car can do, and the results draw some concerns. According to Uber’s 2019-2020 U.S. safety report, that two-year timespan saw 3,824 reported instances of sexual assault involving Uber trips, with 61 percent of reported victims being riders. Keep in mind, those are just reported events, and that the true number could be greater. Needless to say, this is a problem. Eliminating drivers from the equation may have the potential to reduce these awful numbers.
In any case, the Verne Level 4 autonomous taxi seems like it could be a promising experiment in autonomy. After hitting the streets of Zagreb in two years, expect fleets to come to the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Middle East over the following years. There’s no word yet on whether or not we’ll see it in North America, but we’ll keep an eye on the project as it launches on real streets.
(Photo credits: Verne)
Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.
-
‘Fully Automated AVs May Never Be Able To Operate Safely’ Says One Of The Oldest Professional Computing Technology Organizations
-
I Rode In An Autonomous Car On Public Roads. It Might be The Greatest Transportation Experience On Earth
-
Cruise Stopping Its Driverless Taxi Service Reveals What Self-Driving Cars Need To Focus On
-
A Video Showing A Police Officer Yelling At An Autonomous Car Has Me Worried About Robocar Emergency Overrides
-
AAA Reports That 68 Percent Of Americans Are Now Afraid Of Autonomous Cars
Got a hot tip? Send it to us here. Or check out the stories on our homepage.
“A vision of the future that makes sense” I suppose nonsense is a type of sense yes.
I’m glad to see this (it needs wheelchair support, given). Somewhere outside the US with much less NIMBY and paranoia and much more interest in showing progress, we’ll see self-driving cars take lead. It makes a ton of sense – cars are big and expensive and we don’t utilize them very much compared to their costs – and driving is time better spent doing other things.
I’d love to see something like this in some of the crazier driving parts of the world. Think Delhi, Rome, etc*. If they can survive there, I don’t think there’s a legitimate case that they’re not skilled enough.
* Those cities have chaotic driving, but probably wouldn’t be first in line to go deep-self-driving.
Hey, don’t knock Uber Pool. 100% positive experiences, would recommend. Because I’m a cheapskate, unless I need to be somewhere at a specific time, it’s been kind of fun to discover parts of the city I never would have visited, and most riders have been pretty cool. There’s a true, if brief, sense of community, kinship, and safety as we are all stuck inside a car driven by a stranger who could be a serial killer. The odds that the driver and the other passengers are all serial killers are infinitesimal, so you have one ally in case the ride goes south (figuratively).
Classical Balkan tale of stealing money from the government and underdelivering while cashing out the rest, maybe even lure in some dumbo investors.
2 ton 2 seater pods aren’t the future of public transport.
no level4 software to run it (is there even a path to get there? ref j.torchinsky’s excellent book “robot, take the wheel”).
no headlights, nor windows that open.
i’m glad it’s 2 years away… please keep it that way.
You can sidestep Torch’s concerns in one fell swoop if there is no wheel for a robot to take. GENIUS.
there is more to the book than the title. it’s a good read!
They picked a great name for their sci-fi technology that is forever two years away.
I’ll believe it when I see it driving along safely at a reasonable speed during a snowfall with at least a quarter inch already on the ground. Or even a moderately-heavy rain.
Seen that somewhere before, just cannot totally recall where.
I understood that reference
So.. I guess Rimac are soon doing a capital raise? Why else launch this smoke and mirrors concept?
Well part of it. Maybe.
My guess would be that most of it will be targeted ads for the specific rider(s) in the cab. If there’s an app, then they’ll know who you are and be able to profile the ads. There’s no way they’re going to no have that screen real estate making a few extra currencies.
“ride-hailing apps have turned what used to be a skilled task into something anyone with a driver’s license and a new enough car can do”
Outside of London’s black cars and perhaps a few overachievers across the globe, I think this characterization of taxi drivers pretty generous. The gating issue has never been skill. In NY, it’s medallions, and many places it’s similarly monopolistic license programs that limited who got the job. Not skill.
As an urban cyclist I feel strongly that taxi drivers were the most predictable and careful drivers (behind only city bus operators) and rideshare drivers are… not that. They was a small professional class that drove every day. Uber changed that.
Is taxi driver behavior that a consequence of driving skill or self-perservation due to scarcity? I’d probably argue it’s the latter. Granted – one has to practice patience to be good at it, but it’s a lot easier if your livelihood depends on it. Vice versa for the ridesharers, speed or efficiency is the name of the game to get ahead.
Yeah, the rent-seeking behavior led to NYC taxi medallions being owned by millionaires as an appreciating asset. I don’t cry a single tear for the destruction of the value of medallions like that.
It’s not restricted to NYC.
I’m sure it’s not, but NYC is the one I’m most familiar with.
I don’t care if it’s autonomous or not – I want one.
Because it’s a cool looking 2 door, 2 seat EV coupe in an actual color.
I even like the wheels.
When I Cruise with my posse I need Waymo seats to Verne my business, Argo two ain’t enough. I’ll Tesla waters elsewhere.
haha :facepalm:
Someone is severely underestimating (or is it overestimating?) people if they think they won’t SA this autonomous car. OK, it has no rights (yet) so we don’t care, but what about the cleaners? Roomba can’t do this job! WON’T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CLEANERS?!
Strict policy – no porn on the big screen.
“Is that hand sanitizer in the console?”
“No, Dude – It’s lube”
“Hey, this reminds me of your old Fiero!”
Hey Verne, it’s a robotaxi. Knowwhatimean?
Any small pod based transit system should have 3 seats.
A group that has an odd number of people and wants to use this is forced to split up so that someone rides alone.
With three seats any size group can use this without any individual having to ride alone.
Just sit on the hump like you did in your Fiero.
How do you know what I did in my Fiero?
Dude – Everyone did that in their Fiero.
But did they do it in Chrononetric’s Fiero?
Since there is no driver I guess it is a “as many as fit” passenger vehicle.
its got cameras in it that watch before the car leaves and when it drops you off to see the state of the car to know if it needs cleaning. during the interview he said a large percentage of rides are for 1 or 2 people so thats why its got 2 seats. if you need more than 2 seats just call another one. theyre predicting pricing to be under traditional cabs and rideshares.
Another article quotes someone from Verne as saying 9 out of 10 are 2 people or less. And yes a taxi with two seats is fine for all those rides.
Assuming that number is correct there’s still 10% of the time when people are traveling in a larger group. And when that group is an odd number of people someone has to ride alone.
Personal experience: when I’m in a group and using taxis or ride shares to get to a common destination we are being social or maybe drunk or both. This is exactly the circumstance where I’d have to be a real ass to say “No room J G. Why don’t you ride solo to the next bar.”
A taxi with 3 seats is also fine for all those rides with only 1 or 2 people. But a couple times a year it also saves me from being the jerk that asks you to ride alone to the next bar.
if that person isnt a child then riding solo isnt going to be a problem. i travel a lot too and its not a big deal. im normally the one solo anyway because i can be trusted to find my way back to the hotel no matter where i am. i let the space cadets ride together so they can rub their brain cells together.
Price to build and price to operate?
I travel for business far more often than for personal, I’m also more willing to accept minor inconveniences when on business travel than personal.
But having a taxi fleet that is incapable of handling a small group of people (such as a family of 3-4), or anyone with a handicap (as someone else pointed out) simply makes travel unnecessarily frustrating as it’s a smaller pool of vehicles available.
Thankfully Zagreb’s currently got a very healthy fleet of Uber/Bolt drivers that’ll get you anywhere in-town for cheaper than it’ll cost you to park a rental at your hotel.
Potentially controversial opinion: If a ground-up taxi isn’t designed to allow for wheelchair accessibility it is worthless.
I can accept it when building it as a taxi is secondary – it’s a difficult design requirement – but if you’re designing a vehicle from the ground up, specifically for people who can’t drive themselves somewhere and you don’t include a provision for wheelchair users, what are you even doing?
I hope this isn’t controversial.
This is for Europe, for all the progressive policies otherwise, there is nothing even close to the ADA there.
Wheelchair users should just stay home. /s
The solution will of course be handled by the bureaucracy just like disabled parking et-al. They’ll mandate 1 acessible vehicle for every 10 non or whatever formula they come up with.
I think a modified version of this would pull the seats out altogether, get rid of that diagonal part around the b-pillar and floor, and add a ramp. The doors still rock.
So many promises, and so many broken hearts.
and its 2 years away!
And it will be two years away for the next 10 years!
Always with the negative waves Moriarty. Always with the negative waves.
Tribute to the Don.
Mate clearly hasn’t learnt from Elon to promise “next year”
Gotta get some of that sweet venture capital? Robo-ai baby!
Thanks a lot for that headline! Now I have Waka Flocka Flame stuck in my head….
I say good luck to them and anyone wanting to risk being in one.
Of course: yet another autonomous robotaxi is two years away.
But the flying car! Oh wait…