HipCar / Citylink
Ride-sharing and car-sharing with production KYC.
CTO · 2018–2025
The problem
Handing a stranger a car, or a ride, requires knowing who they are. Both platforms needed identity checks strong enough for real liability, in two countries with different document systems.
What we built
Citylink: KYC verifying users are real people and are the actual person using the car. HipCar in Moldova: driver KYC integrating external services to verify the vehicle exists, the documentation is valid and the driver is licensed. Car access runs over Bluetooth and IoT hardware, with OBD2/CAN bus telemetry from the vehicle.
Decisions that mattered
External verification sources over manual review
A review team scales linearly with signups. Wiring the official vehicle and licence registries in cost integration work up front and kept onboarding same-day at any volume.
Bluetooth unlock with a server-side audit trail
Phone-to-car Bluetooth works without signal, which matters in a parking garage. Every unlock still writes a server record so a disputed trip has evidence.
OBD2/CAN telemetry from day one
It was not needed for the first release. Having fuel, mileage and fault data later made damage disputes and maintenance scheduling possible without new hardware.
Stack
Related work
Got a product that needs to go further?
Fixed-price scope in the first call. No discovery phase invoice.