The European Commission (EC) approved on Thursday last week Croatian state assistance amounting to EUR 179.5 millionfor the robotaxi development project of the Croatian innovator and entrepreneur Mate Rimac, report Croatian media.The grant will cover around 45% of the acceptable costs of the project; however, if the project provessuccessful and achieves additional profits, then the beneficiary of the grant will return the funding to the state, VECERNJI LISTreports.     The project for urban mobility in Zagreb will enable users to combine multiple types of transportation through a singleplatform, and the model, if successful, could be applied to other cities in the European Union (EU). Meanwhile, the objective ofthe grant is to support the Project 3 Mobility (P3M) company in developing services based on completely autonomous electricvehicles, the so-called ‘Robotaxi.’P3M CEO Marko Pejkovic told journalists that “this is an important moment for us – the approval process forthe project before EU bodies was exceptionally long and demanding; it has taken over two years since we started discussingthe project.” He noted that it was necessary to demonstrate in detail how the project aligns with the goals of the European‘Green’ transition and to show added value in numerous social aspects to justify the grant from the EU for development. “P3Mwill invest at least another EUR 350 million of its capital before entering the market,” said the CEO, JUTARNJI LIST reports.P3M has been established jointly by Pejkovic, Rimac, and Adriano Mudri, the chief designerat Rimac Automobili. The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) will partially finance the project now that the EC has givenan upbeat assessment of the Croatian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NPOO). The EC has determined that the grant isappropriate for developing innovative solutions for urban mobility, which contributes to the strategic goals of the EU related todigital transformation. (ICE ZAGABRIA)

Fonte notizia: Jutarnjilist, 31.05.2023.