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Published: February 24, 2017 | Source: Waymo | Author: Mark Campbell

Google’s self-driving car company Waymo sues Uber

Google's self driving car company Waymo sues Uber

Google’s self-driving car company Waymo sues Uber

 
Google’s self-driving car company, Waymo, has now sued Otto, Uber’s self-driving car unit over the alleged theft of company secrets and use of their patented technology and trade secrets.   
 
Waymo now states that Anthony Levandowski, a former Google Employee and co-founder of Otto (now owned by Uber), downloaded “over 14,000 highly confidential and proprietary design files”. These files included designs for Waymo’s LiDAR and circuit designs, which are the key to Waymo’s self-driving car technology. 
 
When Otto was purchased by Uber in 2016 the company’s greatest selling point was their LiDAR technology, which is one of the biggest technological hurdled for self-driving cars, with LiDAR being the technology that the car used to see the world around it and detect moving objects. 
 
Recently Google has discovered exactly how similar Otto/Uber’s LiDAR technology is to their own, bearing a striking resemblance and almost identical feature sets to their own technology, leading Google to suspect foul play from Otto. 

  

       Recently, we received an unexpected email. One of our suppliers specializing in LiDAR components sent us an attachment (apparently inadvertently) of machine drawings of what was purported to be Uber’s LiDAR circuit board — except its design bore a striking resemblance to Waymo’s unique LiDAR design.

 

Google's self driving car company Waymo sues Uber

 

While some will see this as Google/Alphabet attempting to stomp out their competition, it seems that Waymo’s complaints are legitimate, with Otto misappropriating Google/Waymo’s trade secrets and IP. 

The theft of cutting-edge technology is a serious offence, especially given the fact that Waymo has not released any products on the consumer market space.  

 

   Our parent company Alphabet has long worked with Uber in many areas, and we didn’t make this decision lightly. However, given the overwhelming facts that our technology has been stolen, we have no choice but to defend our investment and development of this unique technology.

  

At this time it is unknown exactly how this case will be settled by Uber/Google, though it is likely that we will see a similar outcome to the recent ZeniMax/Oculus court case. 

 

You can join the discussion on Google’s Waymo suing Uber/Otto on the OC3D Forums. 

 

Google's self driving car company Waymo sues Uber

Google’s self-driving car company Waymo sues Uber

 
Google’s self-driving car company, Waymo, has now sued Otto, Uber’s self-driving car unit over the alleged theft of company secrets and use of their patented technology and trade secrets.   
 
Waymo now states that Anthony Levandowski, a former Google Employee and co-founder of Otto (now owned by Uber), downloaded “over 14,000 highly confidential and proprietary design files”. These files included designs for Waymo’s LiDAR and circuit designs, which are the key to Waymo’s self-driving car technology. 
 
When Otto was purchased by Uber in 2016 the company’s greatest selling point was their LiDAR technology, which is one of the biggest technological hurdled for self-driving cars, with LiDAR being the technology that the car used to see the world around it and detect moving objects. 
 
Recently Google has discovered exactly how similar Otto/Uber’s LiDAR technology is to their own, bearing a striking resemblance and almost identical feature sets to their own technology, leading Google to suspect foul play from Otto. 

  

       Recently, we received an unexpected email. One of our suppliers specializing in LiDAR components sent us an attachment (apparently inadvertently) of machine drawings of what was purported to be Uber’s LiDAR circuit board — except its design bore a striking resemblance to Waymo’s unique LiDAR design.

 

Google's self driving car company Waymo sues Uber

 

While some will see this as Google/Alphabet attempting to stomp out their competition, it seems that Waymo’s complaints are legitimate, with Otto misappropriating Google/Waymo’s trade secrets and IP. 

The theft of cutting-edge technology is a serious offence, especially given the fact that Waymo has not released any products on the consumer market space.  

 

   Our parent company Alphabet has long worked with Uber in many areas, and we didn’t make this decision lightly. However, given the overwhelming facts that our technology has been stolen, we have no choice but to defend our investment and development of this unique technology.

  

At this time it is unknown exactly how this case will be settled by Uber/Google, though it is likely that we will see a similar outcome to the recent ZeniMax/Oculus court case. 

 

You can join the discussion on Google’s Waymo suing Uber/Otto on the OC3D Forums. 

 

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