Autonavi · 2026
Autonavi.ee
CarPlay, Android Auto and navigation map updates matched exactly to your vehicle.
Goal
Customers had to know before buying whether CarPlay, Android Auto or a map update would work in their car, and the shop had to sell hundreds of vehicle-specific products without manual busywork.
Results in numbers
What changed
1,390
car-specific products in the shop
772 + 183
software versions compatibility is checked against
8
add-ons that don't bloat the product range
The situation
Whether CarPlay, Android Auto or a map update will work depends on the exact software version and hardware of the car’s screen unit. The wrong choice means a return and an unhappy customer. Autonavi.ee had to sell hundreds of car-specific products in a way that tells customers, before they buy, whether it fits their car.
Constraints
- About 1,390 car-specific products (e.g. 622 for Audi, 528 for VW, 336 each for Seat and Škoda) had to be created automatically from per-brand data files, not by hand.
- 8 add-ons (such as full-screen mode, wireless CarPlay and a map update) couldn't be allowed to turn every product into hundreds of separate variants.
- Entering the wrong software version had to be made as hard as possible, checked on the server and not just in the browser.
- The site goes public later, but orders and customer accounts had to be ready and secure well before that.
Solution
How I solved it
Product
Customers can't know in advance whether their car's screen unit supports CarPlay, Android Auto or a map update.
The product page has a compatibility check. The customer enters their unit’s software version and the system compares it with 772 known versions and 183 versions that can be activated directly. It copes with a half-typed version, knows which units only support it in hardware, and suggests the newest option that fits. The goal is fewer wrong orders and fewer returns.
E-commerce
About 1,390 car-specific products (Audi, VW, Seat, Škoda and others) had to get into the shop without being typed in by hand.
Products are created automatically from cleaned per-brand CSV files and imported into WooCommerce. Each product carries a list of software versions it works with, and the compatibility check uses that same list later.
Structure
If the 8 add-ons were made as normal product variants, each product could have turned into up to 256 variants.
Each add-on is a separate option managed in ACF with its own price, and the final price is worked out in the cart. That way a product stays one product instead of hundreds of variants, which would have been impossible to manage with this many products.
Data quality
A wrong VIN or software version in the cart means a wrong order that's expensive to fix later.
Before anything goes into the cart, the server checks that the VIN has the right format (17 characters, without the letters I, O and Q, which VINs never use) and that the software version is valid. The check can be switched on or off for each product.
Staff tools
Every order needs its own software package prepared for that exact car, and there was no convenient tool for it.
Each order shows the car’s details and tools for preparing the software package for that order. Only staff with the right permissions can use them, and the finished files are kept where they can’t be reached from the public internet.
Result
The Autonavi.ee shop is built: about 1,390 car-specific products, compatibility checked against 772 + 183 known software versions, and 8 add-ons that don’t bloat the product range. The public site currently shows “coming soon”, but customer accounts and orders already work.
What's next
Next is the public launch and adding new car models and software versions to the compatibility database.