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: 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:
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(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.