Verne, a Croatian autonomous vehicle startup, achieved Europe's first fully driverless taxi service on September 10 by deploying Chinese robotaxi technology from Pony.ai instead of the vehicle it spent three years developing with €179.5 million in EU funding. The service operates on a fixed 22-kilometer route between Verne's Zagreb headquarters, the city's business district, and Franjo Tuđman Airport, with invited passengers riding in BAIC Arcfox Alpha T5 vehicles steered entirely by Pony.ai's autonomous software.

This outcome represents both a remarkable achievement and a striking departure from the original project scope. Verne was contracted to build a Level 5 autonomous vehicle,one requiring no driver and no defined operating zone,as part of Croatia's National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Instead, the company pivoted to operating Pony.ai's proven technology while its own custom-designed pod remains in a Zagreb facility.

Why Did Verne Abandon Its Own Vehicle?

The answer lies in the brutal mathematics of autonomous driving development. Verne's original two-seat pod, unveiled in June 2024 with no steering wheel, no pedals, and a 43-inch screen, was designed to run on Mobileye's Drive system. The company promised 100 vehicles would be operational in Zagreb by the end of 2024. That deadline passed without deployment.

By contrast, Pony.ai brings proven operational experience to the table. The Chinese firm already runs driverless commercial services in four Chinese cities, has logged more than 100 million autonomous kilometers, and has completed 40 million of those kilometers with no safety driver on board. Pony.ai plans to deploy more than 2,000 robotaxis across five European cities in partnership with Uber.

For a startup facing an audit of its €89.7 million advance payment, the commercial logic was clear: deploy technology with a track record rather than spend two more years validating an unproven stack. Verne produced 60 verification prototypes of its own design, which the company says have been signed off as delivered. However, those vehicles are not the ones carrying passengers.

What Does This Mean for European Autonomous Driving?

Verne's launch upends the timeline for driverless services in Europe. Waymo, which selected Munich for its first European commercial robotaxi service, is targeting a launch at the end of 2027. Uber and Wayve began London rides on September 3, but both services still require a licensed private-hire driver in every Ford Mustang Mach-E. WeRide and Uber are aiming to remove the driver in Zurich around the middle of 2027.

Zagreb's 22-kilometer test loop with invited passengers is smaller in scope than those commitments, but the front seat is empty now, not in two years. The service has already completed more than 200,000 kilometers since launching with a safety driver on April 8, finished several thousand paid rides, and maintains a 4.7 out of 5 passenger rating.

How Did Croatia Enable Driverless Rides Faster Than Larger European Nations?

One of Verne's most significant contributions was not a vehicle but a rulebook. Croatia wrote its autonomous-driving regulations as a contracted deliverable of the grant project. Germany has had a Level 4 autonomous driving law since 2021, yet Waymo continues negotiating approvals at city, state, and federal levels. Croatia, with a population of 3.9 million and a single robotaxi operator to regulate, wrote its rules and then let the operator use them immediately.

This regulatory efficiency allowed Verne to transition from supervised operation to driverless service within months. The driverless zone is expected to expand across Verne's entire Zagreb operating area within months, though no date has been set for public access without a safety operator.

Steps to Understanding Verne's Strategic Pivot

• Original Mandate: Build a Level 5 autonomous vehicle requiring no driver and no defined operating zone, funded by €179.5 million from Croatia's National Recovery and Resilience Plan with a deadline of August 31, 2026.
• Actual Deployment: Launch driverless service using Pony.ai's seventh-generation autonomous software in BAIC Arcfox Alpha T5 vehicles on a fixed 22-kilometer route in Zagreb.
• Regulatory Achievement: Deliver Croatia's autonomous-driving rules as a grant output, enabling faster regulatory approval than larger European nations achieved.
• Financial Accountability: Face audit of €89.7 million advance payment with €8.77 million of costs approved so far, while maintaining €140 million in private funding from Kia, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, and Rimac Group.

The company's decision reflects a broader reality in autonomous driving: operational experience and proven technology trump custom-built vehicles in the race to deploy driverless services. Pony.ai's 40 million driverless kilometers represent a level of validation that no startup can replicate in two years of development.

Verne files its final grant report by the end of September, and the state financing agency SAFU will rule on the €89.7 million advance after that. If the 60 prototypes are accepted as delivered, Croatia will have funded Europe's first empty driver's seat for the price of a vehicle it never used. If Verne's own pod has not carried a paying passenger by the time Waymo launches in Munich at the end of 2027, it likely never will, and Verne will be what Uber already treats it as: a fleet operator, not a carmaker.