Verne: Journey to the future of mobility

Rimac launches Verne as self-driving two-seater

Meet Verne. Hello, world! Let's journey together!

Verne: Journey to the future of mobility

26.06.2024

Verne, a redefined approach to urban autonomous mobility in cities, has been introduced. Founded by Mate Rimac and two of his closest colleagues and friends from Rimac Group - Marko Pejković, now CEO of Verne, and Adriano Mudri, the designer of Nevera and Chief Design Officer at Verne.

The unveil event was held at the new Rimac Campus outside of Zagreb. The three founders showed a radically different autonomous vehicle design and the functionalities that the future mobility service will have.

The new service and its ecosystem are based on three key elements: a fully autonomous electric vehicle, a bespoke app, and specialised infrastructure. The first service will be launched in Zagreb in 2026.

URBAN AUTONOMOUS MOBILITY ECOSYSTEM

New urban autonomous mobility ecosystem is based on three key elements:

Fully autonomous electric vehicle

The vehicle is built on a completely new platform designed around safety and comfort, engineered solely for autonomous driving using the Mobileye Drive autonomous platform. It is completely rethought, conceived, designed, and engineered as a safe and comfortable autonomous vehicle. Built from the ground up it is free from the compromises and disadvantages necessary in using a legacy platform built for human driving.

Mobility service platform (MSP)

It’s a re-envisioning of the ride-hailing app and mobility platform. The customers can personalise the vehicle’s settings via app before ordering a ride. That way, the vehicle will be set exactly how you like it with the comfort, lighting, temperature and even scent. Even though the customer will never own the vehicle, it will be tailored to feel like your own. On the backend, Verne uses all the benefits an autonomous connected fleet provides to make the service run smoothly and efficiently in every city.

Infrastructure

In each city where Verne will operate, there will be a specialised infrastructure called the “Mothership”. It is a place where the Verne vehicles will be inspected, maintained, cleaned and charged daily. This ensures that the customer always gets a safe and clean vehicle.

Additionally, Verne is building its first production facility in Croatia to produce autonomous electric vehicles that will be deployed worldwide.

NEW CHAPTER, NEW NAME - VERNE

Adriano Mudri, Chief Design Officer (CDO) at Verne announced a new brand: “It was tricky to find the right name for our new endeavour that fits the vision. But once it clicked, it clicked, and it was easy to decide. We named ourselves after the Jules Verne, the famous author, who is said to be ‘the man who invented the future’. Just as he used the theme of travel as the driving force in his storytelling, we use it as our inspiration in shaping a future filled with imaginative innovation

and tangible achievement. His faith in the future and his spirit sparked the curiosity in generations of scientists and explorers. Making things that sometimes seem impossible, possible.”

HOW IS OUR APPROACH DIFFERENT - WE WANT TO GET THE USER EXPERIENCE RIGHT

At Verne, we believe it’s not about being the first, but it’s about creating the perfect customer experience. We want to make a difference with our holistic integrated approach, which is designed around the best possible experience.Co-founder of Verne, Mate Rimac: “The end result would be the best possible mobility experience for everyone. This means that every customer will have a better service than the best mobility service enjoyed by the very rich, through the service that is affordable for all. You will have a safe and reliable driver, a vehicle with more interior space and comfort than the best limousines today, and a service that will be tailored to your needs in every possible way. The service will also provide customers with much more than just transportation from point A to point B.

It frees up your travel time, allowing you to think, learn, or relax. Improving your life with every trip. We are shifting the attention from the technology itself to its benefits. Verne will transform travel time into a chance for personal growth, discovery, and enjoyment. In essence, enriching lives in every journey you take”.

VERNE VEHICLE - KEY FACTS AND DESIGN

Verne is nothing like you can currently see on the streets. It is developed on a new purpose-built platform that uses all the benefits of the autonomous-only approach, without a steering wheel or pedals.

AUTONOMOUS DRIVING SYSTEM – MOBILEYE

The cooperation with Mobileye, a world leader in autonomy, enables Verne’s autonomous capabilities. The vehicle will be fully autonomous, with a system capable of driving in dynamic urban traffic.

For the past several years, the company has been cooperating with Mobileye. Mobileye's advanced AD platform Mobileye Drive will be integrated into the Verne vehicle and together with a sophisticated sensor set of cameras, radar and lidar enable the automated driving capabilities. The platform is designed to be highly flexible and scalable, to meet the demands of autonomous driving in a variety of locations, on different road types, under varying weather conditions and even taking local driving styles into account, within its operational design domains. All of this is crucial for Verne’s future rollout plans.

VERNE VEHICLE - INTERIOR DESIGN AND UX

The Verne vehicle will have two seats and an interior concept that completely redefines the idea of a vehicle space.

Adriano Mudri said: “Why a 2-seater? Because the data shows that 9 out of 10 rides are used by 1 or 2 people. Therefore, we can satisfy most of all trips with a two-seater and create unmatched interior space in a compact-sized vehicle. We completely redefined interior space. More space than a Rolls-Royce to relax and spend your time well.We optimized the door opening so people can just step in and sit down straight away. Sliding doors were designed not to obstruct traffic flow around the vehicle while still arriving in style. Once inside, passengers can stretch out their legs and get super comfortable. We wanted to make the interior less automotive and more like a living room. There is no typical dashboard, no steering wheel, and no pedals. But an ultra-wide 43-inch display that you can use. This is for entertainment but also to get information about the journey during the ride.”

The Verne vehicle is the perfect place to listen to your music or watch movies. With unmatched comfort, the ultrawide screen and 17 speakers for superb audio quality.

The cabin will be preconditioned and set just the way you like it regardless if it’s hot or cold outside.

The ambiance - sound, and light can accompany your every mood. To calm you, to invigorate, to entertain. The extra-large seats enable 5 different levels of comfort and enjoyment to either work, relax or rest.

Between the seats, there is a Touchpad for interaction with the in-vehicle system, where you can easily adjust the vehicle’s settings. Here is also a key feature that lets you be in control of the most important parts of the ride - the Median. The Median is physical switch used to start and stop the ride, giving an additional sense of control over the autonomous vehicle to the customer.

Above you will be a rounded sunroof - the Halo ring. Nothing like you have ever seen before, it is a portal to new journeys and enables new views of the cities.

Finally, Verne made sure to develop materials that are fit for purpose, to requirements of durability and misuse but at the same time also make it look and feel inviting, premium and cozy.

VERNE VEHICLE - EXTERIOR DESIGN

A key signature of the design, the one that makes Verne stand out in an urban environment, is the general proportion of the vehicle. The unique shape is a result of designing the vehicle from the inside out, as well as the safety-first approach. Verne merged a smooth, encircling, spaceship-like canopy on top with an elegant and solid lower body.

“We managed to achieve a very sleek design despite the additional content, compared to regular cars. We deeply integrated cameras, radars, short and long-distance-lidars, and their cleaning systems. At the same time, we were able to simplify the appearance by removing the typical human-driven vehicle features. We got rid of the windshield wipers. The same goes for side-view mirrors. This makes the aerodynamic performance more efficient and allows for easier cleaning. One typical element of an automobile we kept is the trunk. So you don't need to worry if you‘re going to the airport with a lot of luggage or just finished a major grocery shopping”, Mudri stated.

The design merges the usually exclusive comfort of an executive limousine onto a vehicle with the dimensions of a compact car. This has never been done before.

RIDE-HAILING APP

This is all you need to start the journey. With the app, you can easily hail the vehicle, check its real-time location, see how long it will take to pick you up, and rest assured that it won’t be cancelled. Each ride can be personalized - from temperature to scent - ensuring that every journey is not just about reaching a destination, but about enjoying the beauty of the ride. This effortless experience gives you the peace of mind and convenience that you deserve. The more customers customize the vehicle, the deeper the comfort and sense of ownership.

INFRASTRUCTURE - MOTHERSHIP AND PRODUCTION FACILITY

Key part of our ecosystem and the service is the infrastructure, or as we call it - the Mothership.

“Mothership is a home where our Verne vehicles are taken care of. Here is where the Verne vehicles get inspected daily, get maintained daily, get cleaned daily, and get charged, so that they are always safe, clean, and ready to take you on a new adventure. The first Mothership will be built in Zagreb, next to our HQ”, said Marko Pejković, CEO of Verne.

Pejković also announced that the company is starting to build a production facility in Zagreb.

More info:

https://www.letsverne.com/

 info@verne.team

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Bonn Climate Change Conference

Setting a new goal for climate finance from developed nations to developing nations will be a key task at COP29 later this year.

At the conference in Bonn, countries are tasked with reaching agreements that will serve the negotiations at the UN climate conference in Azerbaijan. It will help to narrow down what the climate finance goal could look like post-2025 and intermediary goals for spending on things like mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage. It will also help determine what form this finance takes - grants or loans.

We estimate that renewables are on course to generate 66% of EU electricity by 2030. This is a rapid and significant increase on the level in 2023 (44%) but falls short of the 72% REPowerEU target.

We need to see higher renewable contributions within member states' national plans, matched with faster permitting with quality for the deployment of wind and solar, along with the expansion of the EU's grid network in an inclusive and nature-positive manner.

The proposal to triple renewable energy capacity was signed by 118 countries under the so-called Global Pledge in Dubai.

“With these goals we are providing them [industries and investors] with clarity and predictability about the future… They will know how much additional capacity we need by 2030 and this will help them plan their business and investments,” European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said at the COP28.

Thirteen EU countries have backed the idea of further accelerating the deployment of renewable energy in a position paper published after the Commission communication on the 2040 climate target in February.

Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain said such feat will be a “key task” for the next Commission as well as to ensure a robust energy system integration to make the energy system fit for integrating the projected amounts of renewable energy sources.

Countries need to accelerate implementation and move their ambitions higher to align with the tripling goal in yet another effort to limit global warming to 1.5°C as set out in the Paris Agreement.

The amount of renewable energy capacity added worldwide has tripled since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015.

Many countries have turned to solar and wind following a sharp drop in cost, along with efforts by governments to lower emissions and strengthen their energy systems. The cost of solar and wind technology has dropped by 40% since 2015, making them more competitive with fossil fuels.

This report makes clear that the tripling target is ambitious but achievable – though only if governments quickly turn promises into plans of action… By delivering on the goals agreed at COP28 countries worldwide have a major opportunity to accelerate progress towards a more secure energy system.

Goal to triple renewable power by 2030 is achievable but countries need to put more effort on implementing energy and climate pledges, the International Energy Agency said.

Countries are not on track to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030, despite their national energy and climate pledges, an analysis from the International Energy Agency (IEA) warns today (June 4).

Official commitments in national energy and climate plans currently amount to 1300 gigawatts, IEA stated, only 12% of the goal set at COP28 of tripling capacity. If countries  implemented all their pledged ambitions for 2030 however, that would amount to 11,000 gigawatts of installed global renewable capacity.

This is led by European countries, the report stated, which contribute a fifth of the pledged global total — the second highest contributor after China. Germany alone makes up a quarter of Europe’s ambition on renewable capacity, followed by France, Italy, Spain and the UK, which together contribute another third. 

Following the first Global Stocktake (GST) which measured collective progress towards Paris Agreement goals, this is an opportunity to work out what a good NDC looks like. Bonn provides an opportunity to interpret the outcome of the GST in a way that puts the world on track to limit global warming to 1.5C.

It’s also a chance for ambitious, early movers to get ahead, deliver their NDCs early, and help accelerate the global shift to renewable energy.

The EU is one of these potentially ambitious early movers as it discusses its next 2040 emissions reduction target. But, currently lacking a clear way forward and with European Elections imminent, it remains to be seen what progress the bloc can make at the conference in Bonn.