You’re traveling for business. You’re in San Francisco. You’re heading to dinner with someone you know from law school. You’re looking forward to renewing an old friendship. Life is good.

As you walk out of the hotel entryway, the doorman asks whether you’d like a taxi. “Yes, please,” you respond, and a nice yellow taxicab pulls right up to you. The doorman holds the door open as you jump in and head off to the restaurant.

It’s a wild ride. The driver has the rap music cranked up a bit too loud. “Do you mind?” he asks. You shake your head and hold on as your body presses back against the seat when he accelerates to beat some other cars before his lane ends. The windows are open, and the breeze is intense as he flies by the orange barriers. You don’t have time to worry about the music or your hair blowing because he slams on the brakes at the next light.

You spend the next 15 minutes holding on tight as he zigs, zags, accelerates, decelerates, and jerks your body around. You contemplate just jumping out, but before you can decide what to do, the car pulls up at the restaurant. You survived. You try to pay by credit card, but he says the machine is broken, so you give up your last $40 in cash.

How will you get back to your hotel? You’re out here in the middle of nowhere, and the only taxi you see now is the one that just dropped you off. Of course, you’re also out of cash.

Oh well, you’ll worry about all that after dinner. Time to catch up with your old friend.

Fast forward three hours.

Dinner was terrific. It was great to see your friend, and you’ve had more than enough to eat and drink.

Now it’s time to get back to the hotel.

Another taxi? Cash?

Then you remember Uber. There’s an app on your phone (iPhone and Android), and you open it up. It instantly knows where you are (using GPS built in to your phone) and shows you how far away the available cars are (in minutes). One is four minutes away, and you press the button.

Instantly, the car is on the way. You get a text telling you the driver’s name, phone number, and arrival time. Oh, it also tells you how well previous passengers rated this driver.

Moments later, the driver pulls up in a beautiful black Towncar. The system texts you as he arrives so you can wait inside until he’s at the door.

You hop up from the table, walk out the door, and your driver has the car door open, waiting for you. You tell him where you’re going, and he pulls away. Moments later, you arrive at the hotel: no wind, no rap, no jerking your body around. It was an amazingly peaceful ride.

What about paying? You’re out of cash. No worries: your driver will be paid by Uber, your credit card will automatically be charged because you created an account when you downloaded the app, and the tip is already handled. The only thing left for you to do is rate the driver when you get a chance later that evening.

Taxis are an old, heavily regulated and licensed industry, set in their ways: sometimes delivering poor service, making it difficult to pay, and doing more to meet the needs of the owners than the customers. Uber is a young upstart intending to change all that. It came out of nowhere, and it’s got funding, smart leadership, and the Internet.

Sound familiar? If not, take a look at LegalZoom and MyLLC, among others. We’re ripe for disruption, and it’s steadily happening.

You’ll pay more for a ride with Uber (now in San Francisco, New York, Seattle, Boston, and Chicago), and you’ll be glad you did. Things like that little text telling you that your car just pulled up are fantastic (and cost nothing to deliver except for some creativity). The service is kicking the crap out of the taxicabs, and the taxi drivers are largely oblivious to what’s happening.

Are you oblivious?