Rimac might be best known now for its record-setting, Ferrari-humbling Nevera electric hypercar, but that could all change in the next couple of years. The Croatian firm is getting ready to reveal its first driverless robotaxi in the next few months, a report says, and the autonomous cabs should be operational by 2026.
Though Rimac has made no secret of its plans to expand into the robotaxi space, the exact details of the cars it will use and the service are still very much under wraps. But we do know that the Project 3 Mobility programme has had input from Kia, which together with sister company Hyundai bought a $90 million stake in Rimac back in 2019. Rimac CEO, Mate Rimac, had already started a separate company to build robotaxis a year before the Kia cash came in.
Related: VW To Import And Distribute Bugatti And Rimac Vehicles In America
The company’s robotaxi rollout starts with a launch in Rimac’s hometown of Zagreb, Croatia this year, followed by the UK (where the project has a second office) in the third quarter of 2025 and Germany at the back end of that year. Its website claims the car used for the taxis will be a “revolutionary vehicle built on a completely new platform designed around safety and comfort,” while Autocar notes that the company’s use of an old Renault Espace minivan as a prototype probably gives us a clue to the size and shape of the cabs. Project 3’s website also says users will be able to control all of the robotaxi’s infotainment and entertainment features via a smartphone app.
If this all sounds like a strange change of direction for a company whose reputation has been built around driver-focused hypercars, Rimac sees it as entirely logical because it’s all part of the plan. Project 3 Mobility is believed to have signed agreements with five cities about running robotaxi operations and is talking to a further 35 other cities across Europe and the world interested in the project.
“People see us as the hypercar company [but] we have many other things cooking and have a longer-term outlook,” Rimac told Tech Crunch in a 2021 interview. “I think that the new mobility will be really a shift in society. Just like phones didn’t just change the phone industry. Apple didn’t just disrupt Nokia, but changed our lives. I think the next big change that we’ll have is mobility.”