January 3, 2023 – As the head of the company told the British Autocar, the Rimac robotaxis should be here by 2026. Rimac pointed out that the vehicle should be presented at the beginning of this year, and commercially introduced two years later.
As Index reminds, Rimac Automobili has been working on autonomous driving technology since 2017, and last year the company received almost EUR 200 million in European Union funds to develop its robotaxi project.
Rimac: we want to attract the attention of investors for other projects with Nevera
In an interview with the British Autocar, the co-founder and CEO of Rimac Automobili Mate Rimac said that the Nevera, a car worth 2 million dollars, is a product that they are using to draw attention to other projects in the company. He described autonomous taxis as vehicles that aim to “change people’s lives” by providing easy access to urban mobility.
Autocar states that Rimac plans to develop and build an infrastructure for autonomous vehicles that includes charging stations, warehouses and parking lots. Rimac described the autonomous vehicle as “a completely different type of car”.
Rimac: Robotaxis could change the way people move around cities
There are still no photos or specifications of the robotaxi, but from Rimac, reports Autocar, they claim that the vehicle will have a unique structure. It should be presented at the beginning of this year, and it will be commercially introduced in 2026, says Mate Rimac for Autocar, adding that such a “vehicle could change the way people move around cities” and that “it will be a premium service, which does not mean that it will be expensive”.
As Index recently wrote, though, nothing has been done on the project of Rimec’s robotaxis for two years and there is not even a robotaxi prototype.
Robotaxis are being developed by a Rimac Group company under the name Project 3 Mobility (P3M). Their headquarters are in Zagreb, and they also have a research centre in the UK. On the official website of P3M, it is now stated that they are planning to introduce robotaxis to the streets of Zagreb in 2026, and then next year in Great Britain and Germany. Rimac plans for P3M to remain based in Croatia, where tens of thousands of vehicles will be produced and exported annually.
Investors in the company include the South Korean car manufacturer Kia, as well as Infinum, a Croatian digital products company.
head of robotaxi company defends Rimac, as he was not involved in the project; Rimac makes new promises
In September last year, there was another discussion about Rimac breaking the deadlines with the robotaxi project, so Marko Pejković, CEO of the company Project 3 Mobility, in charge of robotaxis, defended him on LinkedIn.
He said then that Mate Rimac had not been involved in the project for years and that moving the deadlines was not his fault. Pejković also listed the things that the company P3M has done so far, and he claims that they are all good things. It is also worth noting that, according to court records, Mate Rimac is the founder and chairman of the supervisory board of the company Project 3 Mobility, although Pejković states in his announcement that he is only on the supervisory board.
But judging by Rimac’s statements for the British Autocar, it seems that he is very much involved in the project and fully aware of all the details, as well as the deadlines he promised.
