Uber may continue to develop self-driving car technology

A US judge has allowed Uber to continue developing self-driving cars. Google sister company Waymo has taken Uber to court for allegedly using stolen technology from Waymo.

This case concerns data from Waymo, an Alphabet subsidiary. Waymo claims former Google employee Anthony Levandowski took a total of 14,000 files full of technical data about Google’s sensors when he left in 2016. After his departure, Levandowski founded Otto, a company that researched self-driving trucks. That company has been bought back by Uber and Levandowski also led the self-driving car research for that company.

Waymo filed a lawsuit in March to ban Uber from further using the data on self-driving cars. The judge has now ruled that Levandowski can no longer work on Uber projects developing lidar technology for self-driving cars. Uber had previously voluntarily withdrawn Levendowski from the project group developing lidar. This is a laser sensor system that it took Waymo seven years to develop; Uber did that in nine months.

In addition, Uber must do everything it can to prevent Levandowski or anyone else within Uber from copying or accessing the 14,000 files downloaded. Uber must return these files, including copies and summaries, to Waymo by May 31. Uber is allowed to continue developing technology for self-driving cars; the judge did not ban the company.

According to the judge, evidence submitted by Waymo indicates that Uber should have known that Levandowski had 14,000 secret files containing Waymo’s intellectual property when they contracted him. The judge states that at least part of this information was used in the development of lidar technology by Uber. At the same time, the judge finds that Waymo has not been able to make clear that there was a violation of Waymo’s patents and that the Waymo’s trade secrets can hardly be traced back to the technology developed by Uber.

Uber has previously denied that lidar technology was stolen. According to Uber, the laser sensor system it uses on its self-driving cars is completely different from what Waymo uses. This would mainly be apparent from the fact that Waymo lidar works with a single lens and Uber’s equipment with four. Uber also previously denied that the documents Levandowski stole are present within the company, but at the same time, Levandowski invoked Article 5 of the US Constitution. It states that no one can be compelled to testify against himself.

The case has been referred by the judge to the American Public Prosecution Service, so that it can be investigated whether there is actually theft of trade secrets.