SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Uber is settling a lawsuit filed by Google's autonomous car unit alleging that the ride-hailing service riped off self-driving car technology. Both sides in the case issued statements confirming the settlement Friday morning in the midst of a federal court trial in the case. Google's Waymo unit says Uber agreed to take steps to make sure Waymo technology isn't used in Uber's autonomous vehicles. Waymo says Uber also agreed to pay about $245 million. Uber's CEO says in a printed statement that the company doesn't believe trade secrets made their way from Waymo to Uber. He also says Uber is taking steps to make sure its self-driving vehicle research represents only Uber's work. … [Read more...] about Uber, Waymo settled trade secrets clash
Waymo
Uber settles Waymo driverless car suit, said to pay $245 million
Uber Technologies settled the high-stakes trade-secret theft lawsuit brought by Waymo, resolving a conflict that already cost the ride-hailing giant its top driverless car engineer and threatened to further embarrass the company. Uber agreed to pay 0.34 percent of its equity, or about $245 million, according to a person with knowledge of the accord. Tony West, Uber's general counsel, declined to comment on the settlement figure. The court showdown captivated Silicon Valley during a year in which Uber weathered multiple scandals that drove co-founder Travis Kalanick out of his job as chief executive officer. Uber and Waymo are rivals in the nascent automated driving industry, which both companies believe to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year in revenue. Waymo, a unit of Alphabet Inc., alleged that one of its senior engineers, Anthony Levandowski, hatched a plan in 2015 with Uber for him to steal more than 14,000 proprietary files, including the designs for lidar technology … [Read more...] about Uber settles Waymo driverless car suit, said to pay $245 million
Waymo vs. Uber: Travis Kalanick paints himself as underdog
By Joel Rosenblatt | PUBLISHED: February 8, 2018 at 6:13 am | UPDATED: February 8, 2018 at 6:34 am Ultimately, Travis Kalanick stayed on message for Uber. In almost three hours of testimony, Uber Technologies’ ousted chief executive was largely successful in deflecting Waymo’s attempt to portray him as the mastermind behind the theft of self-driving technology from Alphabet’s Waymo. While Kalanick got caught in some apparent contradictions and questionable denials in one of Silicon Valley’s most high-profile trade secrets trials of recent years, Waymo failed to knock down his larger point that engineers should be free to move among competing companies. Kalanick was repeatedly challenged over his ethics, business practices and ambition under intense questioning from Waymo’s lawyers. But he wasn’t asked about specifics of some of the most damning evidence Waymo has turned up in the year since its parent company took the rare step of suing a … [Read more...] about Waymo vs. Uber: Travis Kalanick paints himself as underdog
‘Greed is good’?: Waymo turns to Gordon Gekko to aid its case against Uber
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – FEBRUARY 6: Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick leaves the Philip Burton Federal Building after testifying on day two of the trial between Waymo and Uber Technologies on February 6, 2018 in San Francisco, California. Waymo, an autonomous car subsidiary owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, has accused Uber of theft of trade secrets relating to its self-driving vehicle development. (Photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images) SAN FRANCISCO – How do some wealthy, Silicon Valley executives pump themselves up to conquer the business world? By watching – and then sharing – a YouTube link of the “greed is good” speech from the 1987 film “Wall Street.” That curious detail surfaced when Travis Kalanick – Uber’s former chief executive – testified during the third, and most climactic, day of the Uber-Waymo trial in a San Francisco courtroom Wednesday, offering rare insight into the competitive spirit … [Read more...] about ‘Greed is good’?: Waymo turns to Gordon Gekko to aid its case against Uber
Waymo Expands Its Fleet to Launch Ride-Hailing Service
It appears that Waymo, the self-driving division of Google parent Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG), is moving its program into the fast lane. In a joint statement with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU), Waymo revealed that it will be adding "thousands" of Chrysler Pacifica minivans to its fleet. This increase comes in advance of Waymo's plans to roll out "the world's first driverless ride-hailing service" in Phoenix later this year as a commercial enterprise. The company has plans to expand the service to "more cities across the United States." "With the world's first fleet of fully self-driving vehicles on the road, we've moved from research and development to operations and deployment," said John Krafcik, CEO of Waymo. "The Pacifica Hybrid minivans offer a versatile interior and a comfortable ride experience, and these additional vehicles will help us scale." A vehicle with a roomy interior like a minivan is an essential part of Waymo's long-term … [Read more...] about Waymo Expands Its Fleet to Launch Ride-Hailing Service