Azernews.Az

By Alimat Aliyeva

The first commercial robotaxi service in Europe has begun operating in Zagreb, Croatia, offering rides at a fixed price of €1.99 (approximately 3.97 manats), AzerNEWS reports.

The project is being developed by the local startup Verne, which aims to introduce fully autonomous urban transport to the European market.

The service currently operates a fleet of 10 Arcfox Alpha T5 vehicles produced by Chinese manufacturer BAIC Motor Corp. These cars are equipped with an autonomous driving system developed by Pony.ai Inc. The operational area covers around 35 square miles (approximately 90 square kilometers), including Zagreb’s international airport. Passengers can book rides through the company’s mobile app, with plans to integrate the service into the Uber platform in the near future.

According to CEO Marko Pejković, interest in the service is rapidly growing: “Around 300 users already have access to the Verne app, while more than 4,000 people are on the waiting list.”

Although the vehicles drive autonomously, each ride is currently supervised by a safety operator who can intervene if necessary. During testing, the robotaxis demonstrated advanced driving behavior, such as safely overtaking slow traffic and smoothly navigating around road obstacles like manhole covers.

Interestingly, the company uses Zagreb’s challenging road conditions—narrow streets, cobblestones, and complex intersections—as a real-world testing environment to continuously improve its AI driving algorithms.

Experts note that Europe is still behind the United States and China in the large-scale deployment of robotaxi services. In comparison, companies like Waymo, owned by Alphabet Inc., already operate extensive autonomous ride-hailing networks in the U.S. and are preparing to expand into cities like London.

Verne is backed by Croatian entrepreneur Mate Rimac, known for developing high-performance electric supercars and for leading the Rimac Group, which also manages the Bugatti brand.

An interesting detail is that Zagreb was chosen not only for its complex road layout but also because its mixed traffic conditions (pedestrians, trams, and cars sharing tight spaces) provide ideal training data for next-generation autonomous systems—something that could make European robotaxis more adaptable to older city infrastructures compared to many U.S. cities.