Ride-hailing & delivery platform / CASE STUDY
UNLA LA
A production mobility platform coordinating riders, drivers and operations teams from booking request to completed ride.
01 / OVERVIEW
As CTO and Lead Engineer, I led technical direction and contributed hands-on across the shared mobile app, Rails platform, and production operations.
- Role
- CTO & Lead Engineer
- Status
- Production
- Platforms
- iOS, Android & operations web
- Public proof
- 10K+ Google Play downloads
As of August 2026
02 / PROBLEM & WORKFLOW
One booking. Six coordinated states.
Riders, drivers, and operations stay aligned from request to completion—even when the happy path breaks.
Shared state
Nearby matching
Recovery controls
- Request
Choose route
- Match
Find driver
- Accept
Claim ride
- Pickup
Meet rider
- Trip
Track progress
- Completion
Settle records
03 / PRODUCT
The system in use.
Customer and driver modes share one Expo application. Dispatch, monitoring, and recovery remain inside the Rails web experience.
Riders · Shared Expo app
Customer experience
Plan, request, and follow a ride from pickup to completion.
- Route and service selection
- Booking, match, and trip status
Partner drivers · Shared Expo app
Driver experience
Receive qualified requests and progress an accepted ride.
- Availability and request handling
- Pickup, trip, and completion states
Operators & admins · Rails web
Operations web
Monitor and support the marketplace from one source of truth.
- Booking and driver visibility
- Dispatch support and exception recovery
04 / MY CONTRIBUTION
From decisions to delivery.
I led technical direction and contributed hands-on across the product in collaboration with the broader UNLA LA team.
Product & architecture
- Translated operations needs into phased product and engineering plans.
- Set system boundaries and delivery priorities across customer, driver, and operations work.
Backend & real-time
- Built booking, matching, pricing, and recovery workflows in Rails.
- Implemented Redis GEO discovery, Action Cable events, and background jobs.
Mobile & production
- Evolved customer and driver flows in one Expo application.
- Managed production releases, AWS deployment, and support workflows.
05 / TECHNOLOGY
Tools with a purpose.
Mobile
One shared application serves customer and driver roles across iOS and Android.
Platform
The Rails platform owns business rules, live booking events, and background recovery.
Data & delivery
Production services support durable records, proximity, routes, alerts, and deployment.
06 / RESULTS
What the work made possible.
10K+ Google Play downloads
A public adoption signal visible on the Google Play listing as of August 2026.
Live across three surfaces
Customer, driver, and operations workflows run against one booking lifecycle.
Maintained in production
Recent public releases show the platform continues to receive production updates.
LET’S CONNECT
Need someone who can connect product decisions to production systems?
I work across product direction, application architecture, hands-on implementation, and production delivery.
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