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:
info@verne.team
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ReplyDeleteVGP, a European provider of high-quality logistics and semi-industrial real estate, is developing a new business park in Lucko near Zagreb, Croatia. VGP Park Zagreb, is located on an 8-hectare site and will offer 28,500 sqm to Verne, previously known as Project 3 Mobility (“P3M”), a Croatian company building a new ecosystem for urban autonomous mobility. The site offers extension possibilities in the future.
ReplyDeleteVerne will use the site for its new flagship urban autonomous mobility ecosystem project, creating an autonomous electric vehicle, along with specialized infrastructure and a mobility service platform. The project, which was announced yesterday at an event at Rimac Campus in Zagreb, has as its purpose to introduce fully autonomous electric vehicle driving through a robotaxi concept, starting in Zagreb in 2026, followed by the UK and Germany in 2027.
Verne, which secured investments including from TASARU Mobility Investments – a company fully owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia –, and Kia, one of South Korea’s leading automotive manufacturers, was co-founded by Mate Rimac in 2019. Mr Rimac is the founder and CEO of Croatia’s unicorn Rimac Group, which is today partially owned by Porsche AG, the German sports car manufacturer.
VGP is honoured to be able to contribute to this project by constructing new facilities for development and production at VGP Park Zagreb. Lately, VGP has signed several new iconic industrial projects in various countries and is very proud to be contributing to the reindustrialization of Europe.
The site in Lucko is situated just 10 km from the centre of the capital city of Zagreb and only 15 minutes by car from Zagreb Airport, and benefits from excellent connectivity at the junction of the E-70 and E-65 motorways, facilitating easy access to major cities across Croatia and neighbouring countries.
VGP expects to start the construction works this summer and the asset is designed to meet the BREEAM Excellent certification, ensuring high sustainable standards, including the installation of a photovoltaic system on the building’s roof and EV charging facilities in the parking areas. Finally, it aims to comply with the environmental targets set by the EU Taxonomy Regulation.