Uber was founded in March 2009 as "UberCab" by Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp, following a snowy night in Paris where they struggled to find a taxi. However, the service didn't start being "used" by the public until its official launch in San Francisco in June 2010. At that time, it was exclusively a luxury "Black Car" service that cost roughly 1.5 times more than a standard taxi. The true "ride-sharing" revolution that most people recognize today didn't begin until July 2012, with the launch of UberX. This allowed everyday people to drive their own personal vehicles for the platform, drastically lowering prices and leading to the massive global expansion we see now. Uber went international starting with Paris in late 2011 and quickly spread to major hubs like London and New York. By 2014, with the launch of Uber Eats, the company transitioned from a simple car-hailing app into a comprehensive logistics and delivery giant.
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous city in California, with 808,437 residents, and the 17th most populous city in the United States as of 2022.