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Uber Dismisses Former Self-Driving Car Boss
Uber fires self-driving car engineer who has been accused of stealing secrets from Google-owner Alphabet after he declined to support an investigation linked to the lawsuit.
Uber fires self-driving car engineer after he refused to assist with an inquiry related to a lawsuit by Google-owner Alphabet.
Anthony Levandowski, earlier worked on self-driving car technology at Waymo, owned by Alphabet. He has been accused of downloading 14,000 confidential files before departing Alphabet in 2016.
However, Uber denies it is using the stolen technology to develop its self-driving car. In a court filing last month, Uber stated that its technology is different. The court filing outlined the claim that employees brought files to Uber with the aim of producing "copycat" technology as "demonstrably false."
The engineer has declined to testify in the case, launched in February 2017. Uber spokeswoman confirmed dismissing Mr Levandowski effective May 30, 2017.
In fact, he was removed from the self-driving car technology at the heart of the suit.
Mr Levandowski started working at Uber in August 2016, when the company purchased Otto, the self-driving truck start-up he had conceived in the six months after leaving Google.
Citing his right to avoid self-incrimination, he declined to testify earlier this year.
Uber affirms its technology is different to Waymo's and states there is not evidence the files are on its servers; however its search did not include Mr Levandowski's computer.
The court had asked Uber to return all the "pilfered" files related to the technology by the end of the month.
Uber stated that it fired the engineer after to declined to meet the deadline that would enable Uber to cooperate with the judge's order.
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