Pushing Mobility

The Use Mobility app streamlines e-bike services in rural areas and campsites, providing a solution that maximizes efficiency and cuts costs. The software integrates smoothly with hardware to offer a fully autonomous system, handling user registration, payments, and rental monitoring seamlessly.

The Use Group delivers end-to-end mobility solutions tailored for municipalities and cities, with a strong focus on e-bike rentals. Their comprehensive offering includes solar-powered rental stations, bicycles and their ongoing maintenance.

When businesses are just starting out, white label software offers a fast, hassle-free solution with built-in maintenance. But as growth happens, many off-the-shelf systems start to fall short. This was the case for USE Group GmbH. Their e-bike rental platform was functional, but lacked some critical features. While it worked for basic rentals, it lacked integration with popular 3rd party hardware and wasn’t user-friendly enough for their growing customer base.

To address this, we partnered with Markus Egerer, founder of USE Group GmbH, to run an innovative proof of concept. Our goal? To enhance the platform by integrating a Shelly smart controller and enabling seamless control of additional on-site devices through the platform’s API. This required us to design and develop a custom connector service.

After a local electrician installed the smart controller and access lock, we successfully tested the ability to open rental stations directly through the app. With additional devices connected, we introduced real-time monitoring, ensuring bikes were correctly marked as ‘returned’ once placed on charge.

As USE Group GmbH continued to expand, the need for a more tailored solution became apparent. Building on our successful proof of concept, we developed a fully customized web app in a matter of weeks, not months. We used React for the frontend, NestJS for the backend, and built everything on a serverless architecture on AWS. This makes running the app very cost-effective, especially since costs only arise when the app is actually in use.

Our all-in-one solution now streamlines user registration, payments, access control, and rental monitoring. We remain a trusted partner for USE Group, providing ongoing support and introducing new features as their business evolves.

A unique aspect of developing the Use Mobility App was its position at the intersection of software and hardware. By leveraging Shelly smart controllers, well known for home automation, we implemented a pragmatic and efficient solution that meets all expectations. Through specialized hardware and seamless API integration, the app allows users to enter the rental stations, unlock key lockers and access the bikes effortlessly.