ZAGREB - Uber has invested in Verne, the Croatian company behind Europe's first commercial robotaxi service, Verne's chief executive has confirmed, turning a pledge the ride-hailing company made in March into a stake.
Marko Pejković, Verne's co-founder and chief executive, gave the confirmation in a LinkedIn comment beneath a post by Uber's chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, about his visit to the company, after the electric-vehicle news site EVwire asked him directly, the site reported on Monday. "I can confirm - yes Uber has invested in Verne," he wrote. Neither company has disclosed the size or terms of the investment.
Until now, Uber's only official word on the matter had been that it "intends to invest" in Verne, a line from its March announcement of a three-way partnership with Verne and the Chinese self-driving company Pony.ai, EVwire reported. Under that deal, Pony.ai supplies the autonomous driving technology, Verne owns the fleet and runs daily operations, and Uber offers the rides through its app, Reuters reported at the time. The companies said they planned to scale to a fleet of thousands of robotaxis over the next few years.
Mr. Khosrowshahi visited Verne's headquarters in Zagreb on Sept. 29, took a fully autonomous ride in one of its robotaxis and toured the nearby Rimac campus, the Croatian news agency HINA reported. Mate Rimac, the electric hypercar entrepreneur who co-founded Verne, wrote afterward on Facebook that Uber was "an investor and strategic partner in Verne" and that the two sides had discussed expanding Verne beyond Croatia with its "final" vehicle, which has no steering wheel or pedals.
In his own LinkedIn post, Mr. Khosrowshahi said he had taken a fully driverless ride through Zagreb on the technology Verne is building with Pony.ai, and that Uber was excited to bring rides like it to more people through its platform, according to EVwire.
Verne began commercial robotaxi service in Zagreb in April, covering the wider city center and the airport with safety operators on board, HINA reported. Uber added the vehicles to its app in the city in August, still with an operator aboard. In September, Verne and Pony.ai removed the safety operator for invited riders on a 22-kilometer route linking Zagreb's airport, Verne's headquarters and the city center. The Croatian motoring site Motors.com.hr reported that Verne vehicles have covered more than 200,000 autonomous kilometers across several thousand rides with passengers.
The company is also developing its own purpose-built two-seat robotaxi on Mobileye's self-driving platform, and has shown the first 60 prototypes, EVwire reported.
Separately, the final evaluation of an earlier European Union-funded Verne project is continuing, Total Croatia News reported, and the company said in early September that it was ready to return the funds if that review found it had not fully met its contracted obligations.
