Built OurCar in Flutter + Pocketbase to solve gas-splitting and car-sharing friction for a shared family vehicle.
Key Takeaways
Core scope: car location when available, trip status tracking, and per-user fuel consumption – all in one Flutter app replacing a WhatsApp group.
Stack is Flutter with Riverpod and Auto Route on the frontend, Pocketbase on the backend with hooks for push notifications.
GPS trip tracking was deliberately cut – live location is battery-heavy and leaks private trip details to all household members.
Platform-adaptive UI required the flutter_platform_widgets package; Flutter has no built-in automatic Material/Cupertino switching.
App store distribution via beta channels (TestFlight + Play Store) was more painful than expected, especially Apple’s beta review requirement.
Hacker News Comment Review
One commenter flagged the LLM usage pattern as instructive: ChatGPT for naming, AI for admin flows the builder didn’t want to write – targeted delegation rather than wholesale generation.
No broader technical debate yet given minimal comment volume.