the founder of the peer-to-peer file sharing network Red Swoosh in Paris that same year. Both were living in San Francisco and had problems with the taxicab service there. They discussed a plan to share the costs of a driver, a Mercedes S class and a garage parking spot using an iPhone app. When that worked for them, they figured others might have had similar problems with taxi services and expanded their original idea. Uber began as a mix of taxicab and carpooling services that as a smart phone application ("app") used GPS to bring together people looking for rides and drivers, who were private contractors driving their own cars. Customers chose a pick up location the app then notified available drivers in the area who accepted the pickup location took the passenger to the requested drop off location and charged the customer's credits card automatically. In early 2010 the service was launched in New York City with three cars. After a successful beta test in New York it went live for the first time on July 5, 2010 in San Francisco, CA.