Reference
Software for Free-Floating Car Sharing
Definition of Free-Floating Car Sharing: What Have We Been Working On?
For Volkswagen subsidiary UMI, we developed the free-floating car-sharing software behind WeShare. Free-floating car-sharing is a car-sharing model in which vehicles can be parked anywhere within a defined service area Rented flexibly in public parking lots and can be returned to any permitted location after use. Unlike stationary car-sharing, the vehicles are not tied to fixed stations, but can be used spontaneously and without having to return them to the same location.
In the development of the software for the free-floating car-sharing platform, we took on leadership roles in architecture, backend, apps, business intelligence, and DevOps, and launched a market-ready MVP within just a few months.
Smart Free Floating Car-sharing Solutions Powered by Real-Time Data
Our Client: Who is Volkswagen AG / WeShare - UMI?
Volkswagen AG is one of the world's leading automotive companies and encompasses brands such as Audi, Porsche, and Lamborghini. UMI (Urban Mobility Services) is the VW subsidiary dedicated to new mobility concepts and, through WeShare, has driven the expansion of free-floating car-sharing in major German cities.
WeShare: Free-floating car sharing and e-mobility on a single platform
Project Success Story
We developed Volkswagen's first car-sharing platform for its subsidiary UMI—from architecture and agile coaching to native apps and the orchestration of backend services.
A Look at Our Projects
Market-leading applications across all industries. Whether it's carsharing, fleet management, billing, or e-charging, we offer customized, forward-looking, and sustainable software solutions for every customer need.
You are currently viewing placeholder content from YouTube. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that this will result in data being shared with third parties.
More Information
Goals for the Development of Car-Sharing Software
The goal was to create corporate car-sharing software that thousands of vehicles simultaneously in real time managed—without fixed stations, but with remote maintenance, diagnostics, and automatic onboarding. The platform should be designed for scalability from day one and provide users with a seamless, app-controlled free-floating experience offer — from booking to automated billing.
Key Factors in the Development of Corporate Car-Sharing Software
Key Factors
- Mass-telematics-capable architecture for thousands of connected vehicles
- Native App Quality as a Competitive Advantage in the Car-Sharing Market
- Cloud-native scalability without infrastructure overhead
- Automated Identification Procedures and Billing
- Early user testing and ongoing user feedback
- Time to Market Over Technical Perfection
- Hardware-based test infrastructure for real-world telematics conditions
Implementation
- Native iOS and Android development instead of a cross-platform framework
- Fully serverless architecture on the Google Cloud Platform (Cloud Functions, Firestore, BigQuery)
- Automated identification procedures, parking fee billing, and app-controlled vehicle locking
- Domain teams based on Domain-Driven Design principles with autonomous monitoring
- BI infrastructure for analyzing fleet utilization, usage patterns, and operating costs
- CI/CD via GitHub Actions with a fully automated production rollout following pull request review
„Our collaboration with IT Sonix has always been characterized by trust and professionalism. With its technical expertise and experience in project management, IT Sonix played a key role in ensuring the successful implementation of the project.“
Head of Mobility Platform App Development
Volkswagen AG
Car-Sharing Software Features
Results of the Collaboration
The car-sharing software went live on schedule and grew to include approximately 2,300 electric vehicles and over 200,000 users in two major German cities by 2021. The native app’s quality clearly set the platform apart from other free-floating car-sharing providers, while the serverless architecture delivered high performance with low maintenance—without the need for VM management and with automatic scaling as usage increased.
Additional Industry References
Learn more about our core competencies and services for telematics systems and automotive software.
Telematics and Logistics Applications - Fleetboard
Our Fleetboard project at Daimler Trucks as a pioneering telematics application …
Fleet Management Software
Mercedes-Benz Uptime: a comprehensive fleet management portal …
Telematics in Trucks
MAN DigitalServices: Cloud-based telematics system for trucks with over 100,000 connected vehicles …
Agile Development of Fleet Management Software - Webfleet Solutions
How our domain expertise in fleet management software development made the agile transformation at Webfleet Solutions possible …
Get Started on Your Project
Sebastian Wetzel
We understand that every project is unique. Our experts look forward to speaking with you to find customized solutions.
