Uber fights for self-driving
San Francisco, May 3: Uber Technologies goes before a US judge on Wednesday to fight for the right to continue the work on its self-driving car program, the latest phase in a courtroom battle over trade secrets that threatens to topple a central pillar of Uber’s growth strategy.
The ride-services firm is contesting a lawsuit by Alphabet Inc’s self-driving car unit, Waymo, which accused former Waymo engineer and current Uber executive Anthony Levandowski of taking technical secrets from Waymo and using them to help Uber’s selfdriving car development.
If it were proven that Mr Levandowski and Uber conspired in taking the information, that could have dire consequences for Uber, say legal and ride-hailing industry experts.
Uber’s $68 billion valuation is propped up in part by investors’ belief it will be a dominant player in the emerging business of self-driving cars.
At issue on Wednesday, is Waymo’s demand that US District Court Judge William Alsup in San Francisco issue an injunction barring Uber from using any of the technology that Waymo said was stolen. If Judge Alsup issues a broadly worded order against Uber, it could all but shut down Uber’s self-driving car program while court proceedings continue.
While a ruling is not expected immediately, but the Judge may intimate which way he is leaning.
At a hearing last month, Mr Alsup warned Uber that it may face an injunction, saying of the evidence amassed by Waymo: “I’ve never seen a record this strong in 42 years.”
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has said that autonomous vehicles, though still in their infancy, are critical to the company’s long-term success and future growth. Indeed, autonomous cars promise to change the economics of the ride-hailing business. Among Uber’s biggest expenses is the cost of attracting drivers, who have a high turnover rate. And Uber’s ability to expand into suburban and rural markets, and areas with low vehicle ownership, and continue to offer a ride within three minutes, largely hinges on the availability of a network of self-driving vehicles.
“If Google can’t launch their self-driving car for 10 years instead of five, this will be a little blip in Google’s multibillion-dollar revenue. Uber is the one that really depends on it.” said Jan Dawson, an Uber analyst with Jackdaw Research.
Uber has self-driving tests underway in Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Arizona. It started work on the technology six years after Google began. The Waymo lawsuit, filed in February, revolves around a laserbased technology that allows cars to “see” their surroundings and detect the location of other cars and pedestrians.