Uber got to where it is today because Taxi companies weren't able to adapt and ignored the threat until it was too late.

Really, all people want from a Taxi is an easy, reliable way to summon transport and take you to wherever. Everyone hates calling a taxi company on the phone, speaking to a surly dispatcher, giving an address verbally and then waiting for an indeterminate amount of time for the taxi to show up-- and then you had to have cash to pay.

By the time the Taxi companies figured that out, they were already gutted and in a downward spiral because of Uber's brutal, calculated competitive practices.