创新租车服务Uber遭遇拦路虎

    你需要搭车吗？现在不用徘徊十字路口招手了，只要掏出智能手机，轻触几下，租车公司Uber简洁而具有未来主义风格的公司标识就会跳出来。它是一个衬线体U字母，静静地悬浮在黑色背景前面。注册只需要几秒钟。一旦你提供了基本联系方式和信用卡信息，就会跳出一张谷歌（Google）地图，显示出你所在的地点及周边环境。在屏幕上选定上车地点后，就可以等着看车型图标一点点向这个点靠近。几分钟后，就会有一辆黑色轿车来到上车地点，驾车者喊着你的名字招呼你，还提供免费的小食和瓶装水。抵达目的地后，车费将从你的信用卡自动扣除。不用找一堆零钱，也不用把薄薄的收据乱塞一气。只要打开车门，下车离开即可。

    成立已有三年的Uber已经在纽约、巴黎和华盛顿等8个大城市推出，试图带来全新的出租车体验。驾车者并非受雇于Uber，只是从Uber分得部分车资。这项生意收入可观，多的时候每天可进账超过500美元。要知道，普通出租车司机得花一周才能赚到这么多。车资会考虑时间、距离等常规因素，还要考虑（根据Uber开发的算法）计算的需求。Uber的服务器会对大量信息进行分析，包括哪里的乘客需要用车，他们可能希望去哪里，甚至还会考虑到附近影响交通的大型活动等等。比如，巨人棒球队（Giants）在旧金山的比赛结束后，可能就会有好几辆Uber车停在附近。

    站在Uber背后的人是特拉维斯•卡兰尼克，这家公司的联合创始人兼首席执行官。除了此前创业经历带来的几分沧桑，卡兰尼克看上去并不像35岁的人。他说：“我们想说的是，联邦快递（FedEx）也要隔天才能送达，而Uber五分钟就能送达。只是这个‘包裹’是一辆轿车，它可以带你去任何想去的地方。”卡兰尼克喜欢在语句停顿间露出笑容，一谈到工作，他的语调中就洋溢着满满的自信。“最初这是一家生活类服务公司。按下一个按钮，一辆黑车就会出现。谁安排的车？他安排的黑车8分钟内就能抵达，简直太神速了。”

    但卡兰尼克的办公室远算不上豪华。Uber的旧金山总部简朴到乏善可陈。卡兰尼克的桌子是在一间拐角的小办公室里，用透明墙隔断，墙上涂写了一些看上去很复杂的等式。认识卡兰尼克的人们都说他干劲十足，有时可能有点不讲道理，但绝不像一些成功的企业家那样刻薄。很难量化卡兰尼克追逐的市场究竟价值几何，尽管该公司自己估计仅美国就有几十亿美元的商机。迄今为止，Uber已提供了几十万次乘车服务。更加值得一提的是，Uber用户月均用车支出超过100美元——相比大多数应用软件带来的微薄销售额，这个数据令人瞠目。该公司已从社交游戏公司Bezos Expeditions、高盛（Goldman Sachs）等投资者那里获得了超过5,000万美元的融资。

    You need a ride. Instead of lingering at the intersection flailing your hand in the air, you fish out your smartphone. A few taps later, Uber's slick, futuristic logo appears, a seriffed "U" hovering over a stark black background. Signing up takes a few seconds. Once you provide basic contact and credit card information, a Google map pops up displaying your nearby surroundings. You select a spot on the screen to set a rendezvous and watch as a car-shaped icon inches toward it. When a black sedan pulls up a few minutes later, the driver welcomes you by name and offers free snacks and bottled water. At your destination, the fare is automatically charged to your card. No fumbling with wadded cash. No flimsy receipts to stash. You simply hop out and go.

    In eight major cities, including New York, Paris, and Washington D.C., three-year-old startup Uber is trying to remake the cab experience. Drivers aren't employed by Uber, but get a cut of each fare instead. The arrangement can be lucrative, bringing in upwards of $500 a day, a sum some cab drivers only make after a week's work. Rates take into account the typical factors of time and distance but -- through an Uber-developed algorithm -- also demand. Uber's servers crunch information about where riders are requesting cars, where they're likely to want to go, even traffic-distorting big events nearby. When a Giants in San Francisco game lets out, several Uber cars are likely close-by.

    The man behind Uber is Travis Kalanick. The company's co-founder and CEO doesn't look 35 save for some salt and pepper, a souvenir from a previous venture. "What we like to say is FedEx delivers packages tomorrow, but Uber delivers packages in five minutes. It just so happens that that 'package' is a towncar that takes you wherever you want to go," he says. Kalanick has a tendency to punctuate his sentences with a big grin and, when he is talking about work, his speech is electrified by cocky self-confidence. "In the beginning, it was a lifestyle company. You push a button and a black car comes up. Who's the baller? It was a baller move to get a black car to arrive in 8 minutes."

    Kalanick's office is anything but plush, however. Uber's San Francisco headquarters is spartan to the point of being nondescript. Kalanick holds court in a small corner conference room with a transparent wall. Complex-looking equations are scrawled across the glass. Those who know Kalanick describe him as hard-charging, sometimes awkward, but not prone to the meanness of some successful entrepreneurs. It's hard to quantify how much the market Kalanick is going after is really worth, though the company estimates it is a multi-billion dollar opportunity in the United States. Uber has provided hundreds of thousands of rides so far. More significantly, Uber users are spending over $100 a month on average on the service -- an astonishing figure compared to the minuscule purchases most apps encourage. The company has raised more than $50 million in funding so far from backers that include Bezos Expeditions and Goldman Sachs (GS).