Project

Rummo – Digital-First Car Rental & Fleet Management Platform

Role Co-founder & CRO · Since 2020

Mobility
Car Rental
Fleet Management
Real-Time Tracking
IoT

Summary

This contactless car rental platform disrupts the traditional rental industry by offering a fully digital, on-demand experience that eliminates manual paperwork, long queues, and in-person vehicle pickup. Built on Google Cloud (GCP) with microservices architecture, the system seamlessly integrates real-time fleet tracking, AI-powered dispatch, and automated pricing to optimize vehicle availability and rental efficiency. Users can book, unlock, and return cars via a mobile app, while corporate clients manage fleet operations through a dedicated business portal. With Stripe-powered payments, AI-driven identity verification, and digitally signed contracts, the platform ensures fast, secure, and scalable operations across multiple cities. Achieving a 40% faster turnaround time, 95% customer satisfaction rate, and over 10,000 rentals within the first year, the system has positioned itself as a leader in urban mobility, securing integration into a €250M smart city initiative.

Challenges

Disrupting an Outdated Industry Traditional rental companies required customers to visit counters, sign paperwork, and wait in long queues, averaging 75+ minutes per rental.
Seamless End-to-End Digital Experience The platform needed to automate vehicle dispatch, pickup, return, and refueling, reducing operational overhead and streamlining logistics.
Scalability & Multi-City Expansion Unlike traditional car rental services limited to fixed locations, Rummo aimed to expand into multiple cities with a flexible, location-agnostic fleet system.
B2B & B2C Adaptability The system had to support individual rentals and corporate fleet management, integrating role-based access for business clients while maintaining an intuitive self-service experience for individual renters.

Solution

On-Demand, Contactless Car Rental System Developed a fully digital booking and fleet management platform, allowing customers to rent, unlock, and return cars via mobile and web apps without visiting a rental location.
Automated Fleet Logistics & Remote Operations Integrated real-time GPS tracking and telematics API to manage vehicle availability, enforce geofencing, and automate keyless access via mobile authentication.
AI-Powered Smart Dispatch & Pricing Built an AI-driven dispatch engine to optimize vehicle delivery routes, predict demand spikes, and dynamically adjust pricing based on real-time availability.
B2B & B2C Hybrid Model Developed a dedicated business portal where corporate clients could manage multiple rentals, generate expense reports, and configure custom fleet-sharing rules for their employees.
Frictionless Payment & Digital Contracts Integrated automated billing, subscription-based rental models, and digitally signed contracts, eliminating manual paperwork and reducing the average rental time to under 5 minutes.
Sustainability & Carbon Credit System Implemented Rummo Carbon Credits (RCCs), where users earned rewards for using eco-friendly vehicles, allowing them to offset their carbon footprint through green partners.

Impact

40% faster turnaround time – Reduced average booking-to-pickup time compared to traditional rental companies.
95% customer satisfaction rate, with users citing convenience, speed, and digital-first experience as key benefits.
Expansion to 3 major cities (New York, Boston, Lisbon) within the first year, with over 10,000 rentals completed.
B2B growth: 500+ corporate accounts onboarded, reducing rental admin overhead by 75%.
Integrated into a €250M urban mobility project (Portugal PRR Program), securing long-term scalability and expansion potential.

How it was built

FrontendReact.js web application for customer bookings, fleet management, and an admin panel.
MobileReact Native app for instant rentals, fleet tracking, and customer self-service.
BackendNode.js (GCP Functions), designed as microservices to support real-time booking, pricing, and customer authentication.
DatabaseNoSQL for dynamic user and fleet management data, MySQL for financial and reporting transactions.
Cloud InfrastructureGoogle GCP, using Cloud Functions for serverless computing.
IntegrationsStripe API for secure payments, third-party telematics API for real-time vehicle tracking and remote operations (e.g., unlocking/locking cars, mileage tracking), API for AI-powered document verification (passports, driver's licenses, and ID cards), ensuring fast and compliant user onboarding and Google Maps API for location-based fleet availability and geofencing restrictions.
DevOps & SecurityDockerized infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines with Jenkins, OAuth 2.0 authentication, encrypted digital contracts for paperless rental agreements.
MethodologiesLean startup approach for rapid feature iteration, A/B testing to optimize booking flows and increase conversion rates.