Overcoming Data Blindness: How GoCar Modernized Car Sharing in Ireland

Table of Contents

• Company Background
• Problem
• Solution
• Implementation
• Results

Company Background

GoCar is Ireland’s leading station-based car sharing operator. What started as a pilot of Cork City Council with only eight cars in 2008, has now become a fleet of over 1,200 cars and vans across more than 800 stations nationwide.

With a community of 165,000 registered users, GoCar has built a reputation for putting technology and user experience at the center of car sharing in Ireland. Serving both dense urban centers and remote rural areas, the operator faces unique market demands. To deliver their core value proposition of reliable, on-demand mobility for every user, they must maintain a resilient technology infrastructure.

Problem

GoCar’s initial technology stack relied heavily on a system built for an older era of car sharing where operational excellence wasn’t as important as it is today. The original setup consisted of a basic telematics unit paired with an RFID reader. Sync errors and RFID hardware failures occurred frequently, leading to a poor user experience and significantly increased vehicle downtime. Troubleshooting increased the workload for the fleet team and had a negative impact on operational efficiency.

GoCar was also suffering from what they call “data blindness.” GPS coordinates showed vehicle locations, but the operations team lacked real-time visibility into crucial vehicle conditions like fuel levels, battery health, and ignition status. Staff had to base operational actions on guesswork and time-consuming manual vehicle checks.

While the telematics unit provided the basic functionality, it lacked the dynamic capabilities required to evolve with the rapid demands of a modern car sharing fleet. This outdated infrastructure severely limited their potential for automation and expansion.

Solution

To address these operational bottlenecks, GoCar sought a reliable partner capable of handling the increasing complexity of a growing national fleet. They quickly identified INVERS as the global benchmark for car sharing technology.

We needed a partner that was proven at scale, and INVERS was already the engine behind some of the world’s largest car sharing operators.
Shane McGarry, Operations Supervisor for GoCar

GoCar runs its own custom-built user interface, so the new telematics needed to function as a foundation rather than a closed ecosystem. The CloudBoxx fits this setup. Its API connects directly to GoCar’s customer backend, so commands from the app reach the vehicle without passing through additional layers in between.

Beyond the architecture, four capabilities of the CloudBoxx shaped the decision:

• Diagnostics:
  The CloudBoxx is wired to the CAN bus, making the live condition of every vehicle visible to the operations team.
• Connectivity:
  The unit connects through a roaming GSM partnership instead of a single network provider. Vehicles stay online in remote areas and in underground parking, where coverage from one network alone is often not enough.
• Keyless access:
  Vehicle access runs through the user’s phone instead of a physical key or an RFID card. The CloudBoxx receives the unlock command remotely and opens the vehicle, so rentals start and end without any key handover or key management.
• Compatibility:
  The CloudBoxx works independently of vehicle make and model. A compact electric car and a large commercial van run on the same technical setup, with no separate processes per vehicle type.

Implementation

During the rollout, GoCar successfully integrated the INVERS API directly into their custom-built backend. When a user taps “Unlock” in the GoCar app, the command executes with almost zero latency. For users, the car simply responds the moment they expect it to, which removes a common point of friction at the start of every rental.

The INVERS backend has since become part of the operations team’s daily routine. Filters segment the fleet by model, location, or status, so the team can pull up a specific subset of vehicles within seconds. Fleet data can also be exported and fed into GoCar’s internal analytics tools, where it supports operational planning.

Before INVERS, we suffered from data blindness. Now we can remotely monitor fuel levels, ignition status, and mileage in real-time and pull bulk reports.
Shane McGarry, Operations Supervisor for GoCar

Results

With vehicle-agnostic telematics integrated via the CAN bus, GoCar has a foundation that supports their expansion plans. The next step is already underway. GoCar is migrating to a fully keyless fleet, removing physical keys from the rental process entirely.

We are happy to support GoCar in building Ireland’s most reliable and data-driven car sharing fleet with our CloudBoxx.

If you are looking to modernize your car sharing fleet and would like to discuss how INVERS can help you achieve this, contact us now.