Verne gains faster insights and future-proofs its pioneering urban autonomous mobility business with Microsoft Fabric

The Verne story starts in 2019, when three colleagues embarked on a special project in a garage next to the Rimac facilities on the outskirts of Zagreb, Croatia. Mate Rimac, Marko Pejković and Adriano Mudri founded a company Project 3 Mobility, today known as Verne. Verne is going to establish the proof that a new standard of movement is possible. Named after Jules Verne, often referred as ‘the man who invented the future’, the startup is a part of the Rimac Group, renowned for creating the world’s fastest hypercar.

The new service and its ecosystem that Verne is developing are based on three key elements: a fully autonomous vehicle, a bespoke app, and specialized infrastructure. Verne’s autonomous electric vehicle is designed around safety and comfort. Customers could personalize its settings via a dedicated app before ordering a ride, managing everything from lightning to scent, making it feel like their own. Set to launch in Zagreb, each city where Verne will operate will host a specialized facility called the Mothership where vehicles will be inspected, maintained, and charged. 

Increasing data complexity

As Verne’s ecosystem began to take shape, the company faced an increasingly complex data landscape. "We had over 30 different data sources: an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, a vehicle data system, our project management system and many more," recalls Adam Holder, Head of Analytics at Verne. "The challenge was that our data sources weren’t talking to one another."

This made reporting a time-consuming process. Verne’s employees had to manually compile these data sources, normalize them and prepare reports. "Reporting was usually done by a single individual per team,” Holder explains. “If that person was on holiday or unwell, that would complicate the reporting because of the lack of knowledge or the time to do it."

Proving value early

The company set out to build a modern data ecosystem to streamline data flow and make insights more accessible. “Given how visionary our work is, we wanted our approach to data to reflect that. This is where Microsoft Fabric comes in,” shares Holder. “We already had an enhanced partnership with Microsoft and were using Microsoft Azure across the business, which laid all the foundations effectively for this new implementation.”

“We needed a solution that wasn’t limited by what we might want to achieve in the future. It had to grow with us as a company,” recalls Holder. “We also wanted something scalable, user-friendly, and capable of visualizing data effectively. Power BI stood out as an industry leader in visualization, while Fabric provided a one-stop data and analytics platform encompassing multiple needs.” 

What’s more, with fragmented solutions, the company would have required multiple specialists to manage different aspects, such as data engineering, analytics, and data science. “We knew that Fabric’s integrated approach would simplify everything,” Holder explains. “It would eliminate the need for separate tools and expertise, enabling better cross-collaboration and making the system far more user-friendly. This was a key factor in our decision.”

By starting with a 60-day trial, Verne aimed to build excitement in its team. The team developed some data pipelines, integrated sources, and created a few reports. Holder describes, “The trial was a huge success. When we showcased its capabilities to our colleagues, everyone could see how Microsoft Fabric could help us achieve so much more. After that, it took us just a couple of minutes to move from trial to full deployment."

Safeguarding the future

Next, Verne focused on safeguarding its operations and future-proofing its data platform. "Security is very important for us. It’s not something we’re willing to compromise on," Holder highlights. Verne had regular sessions with the Microsoft FastTrack team to carefully review data flows, anticipate future volumes, and map the architecture. “The FastTrack program was invaluable in helping us set up the infrastructure correctly from the start. When we’ve faced challenges or lacked expertise in certain areas, we’ve been able to reach out for support,” Holder adds.

Broader data impact

From February 2025, every one of Verne’s 200 employees will benefit from Microsoft Fabric. The management makes data-driven decisions, and ensures that departments, from service to operations, can easily access accurate, up-to-date information and tailored dashboards and reports. Verne has already integrated more than 10 data sources into Microsoft Fabric, and that number is growing as the other data sources are being ingested on a priority basis.

Verne departments are using Microsoft Fabric in various scenarios. The first one involves merging data from multiple communication channels to better understand how customers engage with the brand. Previously, manually extracting the information, collating, digesting, and preparing a report for the business could take weeks. “Now, a single dashboard gives us a comprehensive view of performance across channels, enabling faster decision-making and proactive improvements,” says Holder.

Next, Verne’s service team is looking to use Microsoft Fabric to understand how they can track vehicles’ performance on the road. The team currently spends a considerable amount of time analyzing data, and by integrating everything into Fabric, it could become one of the most data-intensive warehouses in the industry. “With faster insights, our service team can make improvements more rapidly, helping us bring products to the market ,” highlights Holder.

Streamlined access to data

With centralized data and automated reports, Verne has significantly eased the manual burden of producing reports for colleagues, empowering them to redirect time toward analyzing insights. "We’re already saving 20% of the time we previously spent creating reports, and we anticipate reaching up to a 50% reduction in total as we add more data sources into Microsoft Fabric," highlights Holder.

Better, faster insights have also empowered more informed and timely decisions. “With this system, we can better understand our business performance, identify areas for improvement, track what’s working well, and address what’s not—all in a way that’s efficient and reliable,” Holder shares. “We can easily spot trends and opportunities that were previously missed.”

This enhanced visibility isn’t just about recent insights—it also offers a historical perspective, enabling Verne to benchmark performance and track progress over time. "Previously, we’d need to find the last report and manually compare it with the new data, which could be quite tricky. Now, we just add an extra page to the Power BI report and compare month-over-month, week-over-week, or any other benchmark we want," shares Holder.

Verne achieves this visibility with a smaller team. "Thanks to Microsoft Fabric, we can produce streamlined and accurate results efficiently, without needing a much larger team," adds Holder.

The biggest benefit for Verne is being prepared for higher demands in the future, with the ability to easily scale up data processing and test the system extensively before launching anything new. “Right now, we can safely test our infrastructure internally. This lets us refine methodologies and ensures that when we do go live, we can make near-instantaneous decisions, even under high demand,” explains Holder.

The future of urban mobility

Verne is already exploring new ways to harness its data, preparing to bring together business intelligence and advanced analytics as it expands its business. One of Verne’s plans is to leverage data to offer more personalized experiences on its app, linking external factors with customers’ historical preferences. "For example, a customer might not have booked a ride for the upcoming Monday, but if it’s going to rain, the app could notify them and suggest taking a Verne instead of walking,” explains Holder.

Verne doesn’t see its data journey as complete yet. "The possibilities for leveraging data, especially with tools like Microsoft Fabric, are endless. We have a very long list of ideas, and we’re very excited to introduce them into our urban autonomous mobility ecosystem," Holder adds.

Discover more about Verne on Verne’s website, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.