Uber, the ride-on-demand company, launched in San Francisco 4.5 years ago and has since spread across the country and globe with the swiftness of a Lincoln Town Car. It is up and running in 18 different countries and, this past summer, earned itself a $258 million investment from Google Ventures. CEO Travis Kalanick, it’s safe to say, would like to see his service for “being baller” spread to every major city. But in each new locale it hopes to conquer, Uber runs into the interests of an entrenched taxi industry and regulators who don’t know where the app-based company fits into their rulebooks. There’s no better place to understand that fight than in Washington, D.C., where the showdown has been particularly nasty: The company shot down an early attempt at legislative compromise, prompting bitter pushback from the old-school D.C. Taxicab Commission. Even the Washington Post has entered the fray, editorializing that the commission should be dissolved for its poor handling of the situation. Nancy Scola chronicles Uber’s history, from its private Bay Area beginnings to its squabbles in D.C. and beyond, to figure out how cities can regulate a ride service for the 21st century.