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What does Mate Rimac – the Bugatti CEO who’s currently in the limelight for launching a new hypercar with a V16 engine – do in his spare time? Why, he teams up with a couple of buddies to solve the thorny issue of autonomous ride-hailing services of course. Enter Verne, a new company that Rimac and co. have founded to: design and build a fully autonomous electric vehicle that offers Rolls-Royce levels of luxury; to re-envision ride-hailing apps with added personalisation; and to create the infrastructure that keeps these ‘cars’ clean and charged and running nearly 24/7. Now, you might scoff, but the rise of Rimac (both that of the company and its founder) has been meteoric, going from unheard of Croatian start-up to a supplier of batteries and motors to the likes of BMW and Porsche. Mate himself is now CEO of Bugatti, too. Will Verne be another homerun for Rimac? Has it stolen a march on Tesla’s forthcoming robotaxi? Top Gear’s Associate Editor, Tom Ford, has been to Croatia to find out… Subscribe to Top Gear for more videos: WATCH MORE TOP GEAR: First Looks: First Drives: American Tuned ft. Rob Dahm: LISTEN to the Top Gear Magazine Podcast: Sign up for our newsletter: MORE ABOUT TOP GEAR: Welcome to the official home of Top Gear on YouTube. Here you'll find all the best clips from your favourite episodes, whether that’s Ken Block drifting London in the Hoonicorn, Chris Harris in the latest Porsche 911 GT3 or classic Top Gear clips from Clarkson, Hammond and May. You'll also find the latest performance car reviews from the crew, our brand new series American Tuned with Rob Dahm and the fastest power laps from our in house performance benchmark: The Stig. This is a commercial channel from BBC Studios. Service & Feedback
