Automated car rental operations

Challenge

Poppy set out to build a car rental experience driven entirely by technology, eliminating the manual overhead that defines traditional rental operations. The platform needed to handle self-service subscriptions, coordinate car deliveries through third-party logistics, track vehicles in real time using sensor data, and automate the assignment of traffic fines to the correct renter.

Each of these requirements involved integrating with external systems (payment providers, delivery APIs, IoT sensors, and OCR/AI services) while presenting a seamless experience to both renters and the internal operations team. The admin interface had to give Poppy full visibility into fleet status, subscriptions, and document processing without requiring manual intervention at every step.

Solution

We built a comprehensive platform covering every layer of the rental operation.

The customer-facing frontend, built with Next.js and integrated with Prismic CMS, delivers a fast, SEO-optimized experience where users manage subscriptions, browse vehicles, and handle payments entirely self-service.

The backend, built with vanilla Node.js and TypeScript, manages subscription lifecycle, processes real-time sensor data from vehicles, and coordinates with delivery APIs. A custom admin dashboard gives the operations team full control over fleet management, bookings, and customer accounts.

An integrated OCR/AI system automates fine processing: incoming PDF fines are scanned, key data extracted, and automatically matched to the renter who had the vehicle at the time of the violation.

Key Features

• Self-service subscriptions: Flexible plans managed entirely by the user
• Car delivery integration: Logistics coordination through third-party delivery APIs
• Real-time tracking: Live vehicle mileage and location data from onboard sensors
• AI fine management: Automated OCR extraction and renter matching for traffic fines
• Secure payments: Adyen integration for subscription billing and transactions
• Admin dashboard: Comprehensive operations oversight for fleet, bookings, and customers

Results

• Fully self-service rental flow from subscription signup to vehicle delivery
• Automated fine processing eliminated hours of weekly manual administration
• Real-time fleet visibility through sensor data integration
• Scalable operations managed by a small team through the admin dashboard