Uber fires Anthony Levandowski amid self-driving tech lawsuit with Waymo
Uber on Tuesday announced the immediate firing of Anthony Levandowski, one of the leaders of its self-driving car efforts, amid a lawsuit accusing it of using data allegedly stolen from Alphabet's Waymo unit.
"Over the last few months Uber has provided significant evidence to the court to demonstrate that our self-driving technology has been built independently," wrote Angela Padilla, Uber's associate general counsel for employment and litigation, in a memo to workers obtained by the New York Times. "Over that same period, Uber has urged Anthony to fully cooperate in helping the court get to the facts and ultimately helping to prove our case."
Waymo -- previously a division within Google -- has accused Levandowski of taking 14,000 files with him before founding the self-driving truck company Otto, which was bought by Uber a few months later. Uber hasn't denied that Levandowski took the files, but does claim to have never used them or had them in its possession.
Levandowski has remained silent, refusing to cooperate with either Uber or a federal judge, choosing instead to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights.
Prior to being fired, the engineer had already been sidelined, taken off work on LiDAR technology first by Uber and then a court injunction. The company is also facing a possible criminal investigation, which likely increased the pressure to distance itself from Levandowski.
The situation could benefit Uber's main U.S. rival, Lyft, which has partnered with both General Motors and Waymo on self-driving projects.
Apple's own self-driving efforts have been largely kept in the dark. The company has started public testing using modified Lexus RX450h SUVs, but it remains unknown if the company intends to partner with an existing automaker or design its own vehicle. That decision could happen by the end of 2017.
"Over the last few months Uber has provided significant evidence to the court to demonstrate that our self-driving technology has been built independently," wrote Angela Padilla, Uber's associate general counsel for employment and litigation, in a memo to workers obtained by the New York Times. "Over that same period, Uber has urged Anthony to fully cooperate in helping the court get to the facts and ultimately helping to prove our case."
Waymo -- previously a division within Google -- has accused Levandowski of taking 14,000 files with him before founding the self-driving truck company Otto, which was bought by Uber a few months later. Uber hasn't denied that Levandowski took the files, but does claim to have never used them or had them in its possession.
Levandowski has remained silent, refusing to cooperate with either Uber or a federal judge, choosing instead to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights.
Prior to being fired, the engineer had already been sidelined, taken off work on LiDAR technology first by Uber and then a court injunction. The company is also facing a possible criminal investigation, which likely increased the pressure to distance itself from Levandowski.
The situation could benefit Uber's main U.S. rival, Lyft, which has partnered with both General Motors and Waymo on self-driving projects.
Apple's own self-driving efforts have been largely kept in the dark. The company has started public testing using modified Lexus RX450h SUVs, but it remains unknown if the company intends to partner with an existing automaker or design its own vehicle. That decision could happen by the end of 2017.
Comments
I just curious why it took them so long, but he probably had contract so it took lots of negotiation and getting lawyers involved, But this firing will black list him in the Valley, that is for sure.
Would not be surprised if its bought out, or at least the whole management is forced to resign soon. Their PR is nearly 100% bad!
Would it be overly cynical of me if I felt his decision to invoke The Fifth implied guilt?
Not completely true, not completely false, so think about what you want to say.
This is going to end quite ugly for Uber - not only will their name get tarnished, they will likely get injuncted from participating in a critical part of their future.
They haven't proven that anyone stole anything from them in as court with a trial etc. I want to hear all the dirt as I suspect Google doesn't have clean hands. As much as IP as they've stolen from other companies I don't think they should be trusted or that competitors shouldn't be allowed to play in the same dirt box as Google.
“You have one of the strongest records I’ve seen in a long time of someone doing something bad, so good for you," Alsup told Waymo’s lawyers
If there was no strong credible evidence he wouldn't have issued an injunction. Nor would he have sent the case files to Federal Prosecutors for potentially an additional CRIMINAL investigation on top of this civil one.