Carsharing significantly facilitated the company startup

The founders of the Brno-based company Sensorie invented smart greenhouses, which have been on the market for four years. They grew from an annual turnover of 350 thousand CZK to more than two million in three years. They manufacture their product physically in Chrudim, serving mainly seasonal demand throughout the country. The core team consists of four people, but their product is so multidisciplinary that they regularly collaborate with 40 more people across various fields. Their business also requires flexible and efficient logistics. They therefore decided to use shared cars.

After several years of experience with AJO carsharing, they switched at the turn of 2023 and 2024 to Autonapul. Read about the experiences of Sensorie’s founder David Bažout with the longest-running Czech carsharing.

Sensorie doesn’t own cars, yet it has ninety - from Autonapul “in the mobile app”

The company Sensorie is still relatively young and grew from the idea of two university students who wanted to make it easier for people to grow their own fresh vegetables. Once they figured out how the system would technically work, tested it, and started offering it, they also needed to get their product to customers. They did not have funds to buy a car, did not want to look for investors, and currently don’t want to, but they needed to solve corporate mobility.

“When you start a company without a financial cushion, you have to decide what to handle first. Finding clients? Infrastructure? People? Car? Office? How do I attract employees to handle orders if I have no place for them to sit or car to drive? Carsharing Autonapul is an immediate, cheap, and efficient solution, and if I want, we even have a van in the fleet. This is incredible for a company startup without a big initial investment,” evaluates one of Sensorie’s founders David Bažout.

Seasonality at Sensorie requires burst corporate mobility

Imagine a smart greenhouse as a set of metal profiles and polycarbonate sheets that form the greenhouse structure. Into new and existing constructions, they install a control unit, sensors, hydroponic arms, and other peripherals for classic soil cultivation and modern hydroponics throughout the year. Transporting such material requires a car, but installation usually happens only in spring or autumn. Then, cars are needed most, otherwise they would remain unused.

Besides that, Sensorie’s founders want to support sustainable development and healthy cities without an excess of cars, so they didn’t want to buy their own cars.

Their main requirements for corporate mobility were:

low corporate mobility costs,
ability to use multiple cars seasonally,
minimal time and administrative burden related to corporate mobility.

Economics influenced the decision, just needed to overcome unfounded fears

David Bažout first encountered carsharing privately when he needed to move within Brno. This was about two years after he first heard about shared cars. Before registering, he faced some internal barriers.

“The main idea holding me back was the thought of borrowing a stranger’s car and driving it. The responsibility was uncomfortable, but now, years later, it feels totally natural and convenient. I like the flexibility of shared cars, I’m not tied to rental office hours, I don’t have to pick up the car at a specific branch, no paperwork, I can park anywhere there is space, and after initial registration, everything is handled via the app,” Bažout describes.

What carsharing simplified for Sensorie:

solving car financing without buying vehicles,
eliminating administration and depreciation - using cars as a service like mobile phones,
simplifying servicing, tire changes, parking, or motorway passes,
quickly increasing the number of cars during seasonal peaks,
eliminating stress from vehicle breakdowns - easily securing replacement cars when needed.

I personally strongly agree with Autonapul’s approach, which encourages reasonable car use and supports combining with walking and public transport.

“I like that they don’t urge clients to use the shared car as much as possible, many things people can solve by walking or public transport,” emphasizes David Bažout, Sensorie’s founder.

They appreciate Autonapul’s personal and friendly approach

After three years of business, when Sensorie needed to install new product line technologies for customers, they were informed their original shared car provider was closing. This could have caused serious complications or customer disappointment.

“Luckily, we then got a recommendation for Autonapul, which provides basically the same service I was used to. I also like the personal approach of the longest-running Czech carsharing. They offered me a meeting with their representative who explained everything, showed me around - no anonymous corporate stuff. I also appreciate the possibility of deeper corporate cooperation and premium terms for higher mileage,” summarizes his first impressions of Autonapul David Bažout.

At Sensorie, they know that beyond a certain mileage, owning a car may pay off, but as an important added value they see that carsharing saves city space. They want to support this idea because they believe in and cheer for this concept in the future.

Advantages of Autonapul’s presence in multiple Czech cities:

More efficient use of travel time - working on the train and using cars only for trips at the destination,
ready fleet prepared locally for regional expansion,
ability to focus on managing the company instead of driving on long trips,
flexibility to choose the ideal car according to current company needs,
car reservation months ahead to ensure availability.

“I admit, I also use Autonapul privately. I like their collaboration with Czech Railways, where train trips to Prague on program CD Points vouchers also cover costs for rides to destinations beyond Prague. And from the company perspective, it’s nice that colleagues plan trips, send me instructions by email, and I just pick up the car and go,” evaluates Bažout.

Planning further development and would appreciate credit card payments

David Bažout appreciates easy registration, onboarding, and customer care.

“If I want, I can handle everything remotely, and when I wanted to learn more about cooperation options, I was met with a very friendly approach. Colleagues quickly got used to the booking system, we just need one set of credentials and get one invoice. The only thing we would appreciate is instant payment for rides by credit card,” suggests Bažout for service improvements.

Credit card payments were introduced at Autonapul at the end of 2024.

Autonapul also plays a role in considerations about new products. At Sensorie, they would like to develop the idea of smart marketplaces, something like vegetable Z-boxes. People could buy fresh, local, carbon-neutral vegetables just a few meters from home. “Such infrastructure would require mobility for supply and maintenance. We don’t yet know if the idea is viable, so it doesn’t make sense to buy a car just to test it. Even such a logistically demanding task can, at least initially, be solved very simply with carsharing, which is great. We can arrange logistics in several regional cities immediately. We just need to find a person there, for whom we have a car ready,” Bažout reflects on Sensorie’s future.

“Don’t give up the comfort offered by almost a hundred cars in different cities just because you hesitate to try carsharing without commitment. For me, deciding to try took a long time, and if I had dared sooner, I could have saved a lot of worries about how to manage my trips,” recommends David Bažout, founder of Sensorie.