Uber was founded in March 2009 in San Francisco, California. Originally named "UberCab," the company was started by Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp after they had difficulty hailing a taxi on a snowy night in Paris in 2008. The first version of the app was developed by Oscar Salazar and Conrad Whelan, and a small-scale test run with three cars took place in New York City in early 2010. The service officially launched to the public in San Francisco on July 5, 2010. Following a cease-and-desist order from city officials later that year, the company shortened its name to just "Uber" in October 2010. From its humble beginnings as a luxury black-car service, Uber expanded rapidly, launching its more affordable "UberX" platform in 2012, which allowed everyday drivers to use their own vehicles, fundamentally transforming the global transportation industry and giving rise to the modern "gig economy."