Thursday, March 8, 2012
Uber Launches In LA
Uber, the technology-enabled, private car service which is upturning the taxi and limousine business nationwide, has set its sights on a new market: Los Angeles. Uber said Thursday that it has launched in Los Angeles, offering up its services which lets users summon a private car through their smartphone application. Uber, which is based in San Francisco, uses its smartphone application to connect riders with private sedan companies who serve those different cities. Uber's CEO, Travis Kalanick, is actually a Los Angeles native, having grown up in Northridge, saying in the blog post launching the service that he's a "3rd generation Angeleno". Uber has turned quite a few heads with its service, upsetting taxi regulators in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., who haven't quite been able to make out what to do about the service. Uber is backed by such investors as Menlo Ventures, Bezos Expeditions, and Goldman Sachs.