Uber is just too underhanded to play the underdog against Waymo
The most remarkable thing about Waymo v. Uber is that so many of the people following the lawsuit are essentially rooting for Google to crush a smaller firm with a lawsuit. It's a tale as old as time: a maverick upstart galls a bigger, more established competitor, and the bigger guy strikes back in the courts. It's practically an American fairy tale, and yet Uber's lawyers are hard-pressed to get this archetypal narrative to stick. Nobody sees Uber as the underdog.
For one thing, through a collision of multiple scandals, Uber has become extraordinarily unpopular, and the discovery process in this lawsuit hasn't done much to alleviate its reputation as an unethical, underhanded company. But the other part is that the supposed maverick upstart hasn't managed to get one over the complacent megacorporation.
Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick says that Google is (and was) in the lead when it comes to self-driving cars.
Charles Verhoeven, lead attorney for Waymo, ended his questioning of Kalanick by asking him about a note that said, "Cheat codes. Find them. Use them."
When Waymo attorney Charles Verhoeven took over again to interrogate him, he returned to cheat codes. "In the context of video games, you know what a cheat code is?"
"Yes," Kalanick replied. "But those codes in those games are put there on purpose by the publisher of the games and they want the players to have them. It's part of the fun of the game."
"That's just the game," he added, before Verhoeven could continue.
Verhoeven tried again, "A cheat code allows you to skip ahead, allows you to skip a level and not do the work."
"No — " Kalanick began to say, before Verhoeven quickly turned to the judge and said, "That's it, your honor." And with that, Travis Kalanick exited the courtroom.
Verhoeven was also able to play the "Greed is Good" scene from the 1987 film Wall Street for the jury because Anthony Levandowski (the engineer accused of stealing trade secrets from Waymo) had sent a link to it to Kalanick.
Previously: Text Messages Between Uber's Travis Kalanick and Anthony Levandowski Released
Waymo's Case Against Uber "Shrinks" After Trade Secret Claim Thrown Out
Uber v. Waymo Trial Delayed Because Uber Withheld Evidence
A Spectator Who Threw A Wrench In The Waymo/Uber Lawsuit
Waymo v. Uber Jury Trial Begins
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Revek on Thursday February 08 2018, @02:45PM (13 children)
At least google started out with a don't be evil philosophy. Uber started out doing underhanded deeds by default.
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(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday February 08 2018, @03:52PM (6 children)
Uber is a hero of capitalism, gallantly piercing through the layers of bureaucratic red tape and flaunting regulations at every turn.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 08 2018, @05:13PM (4 children)
really I am thinking fuck them *both*. i aint rooting for either of them
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday February 08 2018, @05:24PM (3 children)
It's too bad there isn't any easy and likely way in most competitions involving 2 participants, for both sides to lose.
I wish this every time I see or hear about some stupid sports game, and I wish it here with Google vs. Uber. How exactly do you "root against" both teams?
Personally, I'd like to see both Waymo and Uber lose out really big, and go out of business, and then for Lyft to continue as it is, and for two new competitors to Lyft to arise. Things always seem to work out better when there's at least 3 stable and comparable competitors in a market.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday February 08 2018, @05:36PM (2 children)
If Google doesn't win a substantial cash reward from Uber, then both companies still wasted a lot of money on lawyers, and Uber's reputation has still been dragged through the mud. Or possibly you could call it Kalanick's reputation, since a lot of what came out pre-trial and is coming out now is very specific to how he operated the company.
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(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday February 08 2018, @06:07PM
Yeah, but both these companies are large enough (esp. Google) that wasting a lot of money on lawyers isn't going to affect them much (and these companies are large enough to have lawyers on staff anyway), and Kalanick's reputation is already mud and can't get any worse I think. It's like Larry Nassar: if more allegations came out against him at this point, would it make his reputation any worse?
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday February 08 2018, @11:41PM
3 things I've never regretted spending money on: good lawyers, good cheeseburgers, and sexy ladies.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by edIII on Thursday February 08 2018, @05:46PM
If by hero, you mean creating more wage slaves, then yes. That's all Uber ever did, and in order to get away from the regulations regarding employees, they sold a ton of lies to the suckers that would work for them.
I'd be easier on Uber if all they were was an outsourced management company for private drivers trying to get fares, but Uber dictated the pricing. Once Uber is dictating the pricing, those private drivers become wage slaves, Uber is beholden to employment laws. Their claims about empowering people to work for themselves are utter bullshit.
I'm for the complete utter destruction of Uber myself.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 08 2018, @05:09PM (5 children)
Well, Uber was a difficult birth. From day one they had to skirt taxi regulations to provide their service (which a lot of people like). If Uber were not so cavalier about following rules, they wouldn't exist, and people would be stuck with the lame taxi services of the past.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Thursday February 08 2018, @06:03PM (3 children)
Lyft has managed to do pretty well, without having all the nasty scandals and other ugliness that Uber has.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Thursday February 08 2018, @06:10PM (2 children)
My in-depth investigation has found that Uber was founded over 3 years before Lyft [wikipedia.org] and was already facing problems with regulators [wikipedia.org] during that time.
Lyft has also faced regulatory opposition [wikipedia.org], although I don't recall their actions being as brazen as some of Uber's. Then when you factor in Greyball and other incidents, Uber just looks plain worse.
Here are two incidents I'd never heard of:
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(Score: 4, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Thursday February 08 2018, @06:45PM (1 child)
Yep, it's shit like this why I always use Lyft when I need a ride (like in another city). Uber's tactics have been horribly anti-competitive and just plain dirty.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Thursday February 08 2018, @07:54PM
Plus they made this video [youtube.com], which makes you feel warm and fuzzy when you watch it.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday February 08 2018, @09:27PM
Except that where I live taxi services are really good, so the only advantage Uber has is to exploit someone.
If they can't exploit the customer (through monopoly pricing) they have to exploit the workers.