Uber Fires Former Google Engineer at Heart of Self-Driving Dispute
Uber said Tuesday that it had fired Anthony Levandowski, a star engineer brought in to lead the company's self-driving automobile efforts who was accused of stealing trade secrets when he left a job at Google.
What Mr. Levandowski did when he quit Google to start his own company, Otto, which was acquired by Uber for nearly $700 million last year, is the key question in a closely watched lawsuit that pits one of the world's most powerful companies against Uber, a richly financed up-and-comer.
The stakes are enormous for both businesses. Google was a pioneer in autonomous car technology and has spent nearly a decade and hundreds of millions of dollars on its effort, which is now run through Waymo, a subsidiary of Google's parent company, Alphabet. And Travis Kalanick, Uber's chief executive, has said the future of his ride-hailing company, privately valued at nearly $70 billion, hinges on work being done to create cars that can drive themselves.
The dismissal of one of Uber's most prized technical talents also points to the risks of the star engineering culture that has emerged in Silicon Valley in recent years, leading to giant paydays for a small group of employees.
No Johnny Cab for you.
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Google's Waymo is dropping most of its patent claims against Uber, narrowing the case's focus to one patent and the many trade secrets allegedly stolen:
Waymo, Alphabet Inc.'s self-driving car division, dropped three of four patent-infringement claims in its lawsuit against Uber Technologies Inc. over the startup's autonomous vehicle program.
Waymo's decision to include patent claims in its complaint against Uber was a surprise move for Google parent Alphabet, which normally prides itself on limiting patent fights. The bulk of Waymo's case is not over patents, but trade secrets.
Waymo alleges that Uber stole trade secrets from Waymo when Anthony Levandowski, who worked for Waymo, downloaded 14,000 files to his personal computer and then joined Uber to lead the startup's driverless car program. Uber fired Levandowski in late May. The executive has invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination and has refused to testify in the case, hindering Uber's ability to defend itself against Waymo's claims.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco has asked Waymo to narrow its more than 100 trade secrets claims to fewer than 10 to put in front of a jury. In a June 7 hearing, he also said, "I want to reiterate to the plaintiff here that you should think a lot about just dropping the patent part of this case."
Also at Business Insider and Recode. Vanity Fair reports on a legal filing in the case that includes emails sent by Uber's former CEO Travis Kalanick. They depict him desperately seeking a partnership with Google and reacting to talk about Google launching an autonomous ride-hailing service.
Previously:
Google Spin-Off Waymo Accuses Uber of Stealing Self-Driving Tech
Uber Could Face Injunction Stopping It From Testing Driverless Cars
Lyft and Waymo (Google) Team Up for Autonomous Cars
Uber Fires Former Google Engineer Anthony Levandowski
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 03 2017, @08:34AM
Dude should upload videos of himself decapitating heads of state to start a bidding war between governments which will want to jail him. After he picks his prison then he'll be set for life.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 03 2017, @12:39PM
This type of star engineers does not exist. For anyone who has never worked at one of the big 5 (MSFT, GOOG, FB, AMZN, AAPL), what this means is that this guy is just very adept at office politics and backstabbing. That's how he worked his way up the chain over there.
Real Star Engineers(*) are the ones you don't hear about, the ones that actually get shit done instead of working on their public profile.
(* Just like those same Real Scotsmen)