While the tech world has been obsessively tracking the robotaxi turf wars in San Francisco and Phoenix, Europe’s first commercial autonomous ride-hailing service has just gone live—and it’s in a city that probably wasn’t on your 2026 bingo card: Zagreb, Croatia. Verne, the autonomous mobility outfit born from the electric hypercar wizards at Rimac Group, officially flicked the switch on its service on 8 April 2026.
This isn’t some fenced-off tech demo or a vanity project. The public can already book and pay for rides via the Verne app, with the service set to be integrated into Uber following a major strategic partnership. The operation is a triple-threat collaboration: Pony.ai, a global heavyweight in autonomous tech, provides the “brains”; Verne owns and manages the fleet; and Uber brings its colossal user network to the table. For this initial rollout, the fleet consists of Arcfox Alpha T5 electric SUVs packed with Pony.ai’s seventh-generation autonomous driving system. And yes, for this “early doors” phase, there’s still a human safety operator behind the wheel—just in case the AI decides it fancies a spontaneous detour for a burek.
Why this actually matters
This launch is a proper watershed moment for autonomous mobility in Europe, finally dragging the technology out of the “perpetual testing” phase and into a tangible, commercial reality. The partnership model is the real story here; rather than trying to reinvent the wheel alone, Verne has cherry-picked best-in-class tech from Pony.ai and married it to Uber’s world-beating platform to steal a march on the competition.
It also signals a savvy strategic pivot. Verne had originally planned to debut with its own bespoke, purpose-built vehicle powered by Mobileye. By pivoting to an existing vehicle platform and a new tech partner, the company has secured a vital first-mover advantage on the continent. With 11 more cities across the EU, UK, and Middle East already in its sights, Verne’s quiet debut in Zagreb might just be the starting pistol for the robotaxi race on this side of the Atlantic.
