The first commercial robotaxi service in Europe was launched in Zagreb, and it was launched, as you already know, by Verne. Arcfox Alpha T5 autonomous SUVs equipped with the seventh generation Pony.ai autonomous driving system, specially adapted, tuned and trained for our roads, have been driving the streets of the Croatian capital for about a month. We did our demo drive with one of ten currently active robot taxis, which serve slightly more than 300 users, whose accounts are gradually “removed” from the waiting list (which, by the way, has more than 4,000 interested citizens).
He can see better than us
On the ride, which we started near the Central Station, he kept us company Filip Cindrić from Verne, to provide us with all the necessary information for this article, and there was quite inconspicuously the safety operator behind the wheel, who is there during the adjustment and validation of the system. As we have heard, the company’s goal is that by the end of this year the fleet of vehicles in Zagreb will remain without such operators, that is, to become completely “independent”.
“We are currently successfully validating autonomous robotaxis on the streets of Zagreb. The adaptation of the Pony Generation 7 system shows us that generic autonomous driving algorithms require deep, micro-locational adaptation in order to function in specific European urban centers. By mapping Zagreb’s unique mix of narrow historic streets, aggressive tram crossings and complex multi-lane rotors, we have systematically calibrated the artificial intelligence to mimic the profile of a safe, average local driver instead of a robotic machine.
Every kilometer recorded by the current operational fleet of ten vehicles is directly integrated into an iterative loop of machine learning to improve the system,” explains Filip, as the robot taxi navigates the city center, realigns and spots traffic lights at distances that our eyes cannot distinguish.
Surprisingly – boring
After we “got out” of the center, we set off on the route towards the airport, to check how Verne’s system behaves on the open road. We come across the intersection of Držićeva and Vukovarska, the yellow light on the traffic light turns on at the last moment, the robotaxi “thinks” for a moment and – brakes a little harder. We notice that we would have done the same in that situation, but at that moment a subtle apology (which you might not have received from us) comes from the speakers in the cabin.
In our opinion, the autonomous driving system is very close to an ordinary, safe and considerate human driver. If we didn’t know that, there’s no way we’d guess that we’re actually being driven by a robot – the movements and braking are natural, when it’s able to step on the gas, it does so, it adjusts itself to bypass slower vehicles, merges into the other lane smoothly and safely… Surprisingly, it’s all actually “boring”, we concluded. “That’s exactly our goal,” says Filip, confirming that you don’t even need to get used to such driving. Technology is best when it’s invisible anyway, and in this case it really is.
From a technical point of view, each vehicle is equipped with 9 cameras, 9 lidar and 4 radars, which means that it actually has three “sensors” with which it detects objects around it in real time, calculates their speed of movement in meters per second and independently makes local assessments, for example those about realignment. Regardless of whether the vehicle is in the R&D fleet or performs a commercial passenger transport service, every kilometer traveled functions as an input. The algorithm treats complex and unpredictable situations exclusively as an opportunity for additional testing and enrichment of the database, i.e. the entire fleet “learns”.
Operator or not – it doesn’t matter
The need for a security operator to take control is statistically marginal, but we have experienced it. Although the System independently and quite smoothly resolves blind spots, obstacles, and even avoids potholes and larger ones on the road. However, in one situation, we came across road works that had just started (in Zagreb, yes, we know, a miracle!), where the robot taxi “wanted” to turn right onto the mapped road, which has not existed recently. He then autonomously decided to change to the left lane, but our operator clicked on the screen and “ordered” him to continue straight – the information about this was immediately sent to the central office, and in a few minutes the entire fleet will have information about the new passable route.
“Once the operator is no longer in the vehicle, such doubts will be resolved by the team in the control center,” explained Filip. However, the operators will not take direct control of the vehicles remotely. Their function will be exclusively to assess complex situations and give an order or suggestion to the software in the vehicle, which will then solve the problem and, of course, learn from it how to deal with such situations in the future.
In the cabin – the screen in front of the rear seats provides complete information. Passengers see the exact route, detection of surrounding vehicles and even the state of the traffic lights in front of them. The system enables adjustment of temperature, screen brightness, notification volume and offers the option of safely stopping the vehicle even before the destination. There is also an SOS button that opens direct communication with the switchboard, in case of emergency.
Integration, not just driving
After a 20-minute drive to the center via Radnička, we reach the approach to Pleso. Verne is also among the first in the world – namely, they have an agreed cooperation with the Zagreb airport, so their vehicles enter and exit through the ramps in the Kiss&Fly zone without taking a card or any intervention. They will drop off the passenger and pick him up right at the terminal, so we tested that as well.
The airport is already included as an active zone. It currently covers about 90 square kilometers in Zagreb, mostly covering the city center, and it also has 525 defined points for picking up and dropping off passengers. Each of them has been carefully selected and tested as safe for “pick up i drop off“, and with the expansion of the network and the service zone, the number of stopping points will also increase. Over the coming months, the number of robotaxis will also increase in Zagreb, expansion to several more cities in the world is planned, but before that, validation and integration will be carried out here.
“Our strategic imperative is not just a technological demonstration, but a deep infrastructural integration, which is confirmed by the complete automation of access and operations at the Franjo Tuđman Airport”, concludes Filip, while we continue to think about how soon autonomous driving could become the most normal thing for us. As we got used to using, say, ChatGPT “in five minutes”, we will get used, perhaps even more easily, to the fact that when we call a taxi, there doesn’t necessarily have to be someone behind the wheel. If it drives like this one now, or according to the announcements even better – we won’t have any problem with that.
