SXSW Braces for a Party Without Uber

Austin, Texas, has spent the last 10 months engaged in a big experiment in urban transportation. Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. suddenly stopped operating there last May in protest of a law requiring drivers to be fingerprinted. Since then, a wave of startups emerged to fill the gap left by the U.S. ride-hailing giants. Success would be proof that alternative visions of ride-sharing can flourish in a major American city.

But the model will face its biggest test yet on Friday, when crowds in the several hundreds of thousands will start descending upon Austin for the annual South by Southwest festival, a nine-day event that could be accurately described as a tech conference, a music and film festival, and a huge mess. In tech circles, SXSW is renowned for propelling Twitter Inc. and other apps to prominence, at least temporarily. This year’s speakers include Mark Cuban, Gawker’s Nick Denton and Reddit Inc. co-founder Alexis Ohanian.