The autonomous taxi sector is making strides in Europe, with Croatian startup Verne and Chinese company Pony.ai recently launching fully autonomous trips on a 22-kilometer route in Croatia. This route connects Verne’s headquarters, a business district in Zagreb, and Franjo Tuđman Airport. This is the first time in Europe that autonomous vehicles have completed trips without a safety operator on board. These trips are currently limited to invited passengers and are part of a Croatian authorization allowing the testing of prototypes on public roads. Verne, which is part of Rimac—a company known for producing the electric hypercar Nevera and owning a stake in Bugatti—launched the first commercial robotaxi service in Europe in April. The service involves three partners: Pony.ai provides the autonomous driving technology, Verne manages the fleet, and Uber offers the ride-hailing app. Since its launch, the fleet has traveled over 200,000 kilometers. The vehicles used in this service are Chinese electric SUVs called Arcfox Alpha T5, equipped with the seventh generation of Pony.ai’s autonomous driving system. This system runs on a computer platform called Nvidia DRIVE AGX. Verne is also developing its own autonomous vehicle, a two-seater without a steering wheel or pedals, but no timeline for its deployment has been set. In other parts of Europe, autonomous driving still requires a human driver to be present. In London, Uber and Wayve recently launched supervised trips with a licensed driver on board, while Waymo, a subsidiary of Google, is preparing to enter the market. In Spain, WeRide and Uber have obtained the first national level 4 permit to test a fleet of 20 autonomous vehicles around Madrid, with plans to launch the service by the end of 2026. Uber is expanding its robotaxi partnerships across Europe and Asia, while Stellantis, a major car manufacturer, has partnered with Bolt to build its own autonomous fleet. Currently, Verne holds a lead in Europe, as no other program has allowed a car to operate with passengers without anyone at the wheel. However, competition is expected to grow, and the influence of companies like Waymo could affect this progress.