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Uber self-driven to fire Levandowski

by on31 May 2017


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Uber has fired Anthony Levandowski, the star engineer who has been accused by Google of stealing trade secrets about self-driving cars and giving it to Uber.

Levandowski quit Google to start his own company, Otto, which was acquired by Uber for nearly $700 million last year. For its money it got all the company’s technology and a team of experienced self-driving technology engineers.

Levandowski and his staff would also be entitled to a small percentage of any profits earned from an Uber-owned, self-driving trucking business developed under Levandowski’s direction.

Google sued Uber claiming it was using trade secrets stolen from Google to develop Uber’s self-driving vehicles. When Levandowski was ordered by a federal judge to hand over evidence and testimony, he asserted his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination.

Uber has pressured Levandowski to cooperate for months, but after he missed an internal deadline to hand over information, it fired him.

Angela Padilla, Uber’s associate general counsel for employment and litigation, wrote in an email to employees in which she said that Uber had provided significant evidence to the court to demonstrate that its self-driving technology was built independently.

“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.... We take our obligations under the court order very seriously, and so we have chosen to terminate his employment at Uber.”

Last modified on 31 May 2017
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