Judge allows Uber to continue with its self-driving program
Company ordered to return Waymo files
The futuristic Volvos with the spinning tops will continue offering service on Pittsburgh’s streets while a bitter trade-secrets lawsuit against Uber makes its way through the court system, according to a federal judge’s order Monday.
Judge William Alsup in San Francisco was tasked with overseeing an action against Uber Technologies Inc. for trade-secret misappropriation, patent infringement and unfair competition brought in February by Waymo, the autonomous car company spun off from Google.
On Monday, the judge issued a partial injunction against Uber, ordering the San Francisco company not to use technology that a key executive downloaded before he left Waymo. The judge said those files must be returned.
But the judge refused to order a halt to Uber’s self-driving program, as requested by Waymo — a move that had potential to indefinitely stall Uber Advanced Technologies Group’s autonomous vehicle production in Pittsburgh’s Strip District, threatening countless engineering jobs and stalling progress in the race to create driverless vehicles.
The judge said in the ruling that Waymo has shown compelling evidence that a former star engineer named Anthony Levandowski downloaded thousands of confidential files before leaving Waymo. The judge also said evidence shows that before he left Waymo, Mr. Levandowski and Uber planned for Uber to acquire a company formed by Mr. Levandowski.
Waymo sued Uber in February, alleging that the ride-hailing company was using stolen self-driving technology to build its own fleet of autonomous cars. Uber officially began testing its cars on Pittsburgh streets in September, when the company first offered public rides in its autonomous vehicles.
Monday’s ruling prevents Uber from using the technology on a laser navigational tool called Lidar that robotic cars use to see what’s around them.
“The bottom line is the evidence indicates that Uber hired Levandowski even though it knew, or should have known, that he possessed over 14,000 confidential Waymo files,” Judge Alsup wrote. “At least some information from those files, if not the files themselves, has seeped into Uber’s own Lidar development efforts.”
Uber was ordered to return all downloaded materials to Waymo by noon May 31, only a partial victory for Waymo.
Judge Alsup determined that Waymo’s patent infringement theories were too weak to support its request to halt Uber’s autonomous vehicle production.
Waymo contended that Uber’s developing Lidar device infringed on trade secrets.
Lidar, which stands for light detection and ranging, is a key sensor used in most autonomous vehicles to create a 360-degree map of a car in its environment. Currently, Uber houses off-the-shelf Lidar technology in the spinning tops attached to its Volvo fleet in Pittsburgh and does not employ custom, in-house Lidar.
The judge ruled that although it’s hard to imagine Mr. Levandowski “plundered Waymo’s vault the way he did” with no intent to use the material,
Waymo still fell short of showing trade secrets were used.
Numerous sections of the ruling were blacked out to protect those trade secrets. But the judge scolded Waymo for being “overbroad” in what it says are 121 trade secrets involved in the case. For example, Judge Alsup wrote that Waymo can’t claim that the way it positions light sources in its Lidar is protected, since the design uses well-known principles of physics.
For that reason, Judge Alsup wrote that even a limited injunction would be an unfair hardship for Uber’s Lidar development.
Uber said in a statement Monday that it’s pleased with the court’s ruling, which will allow the company to continue autonomous vehicle research, including development of its Lidar system. “We look forward to moving toward trial and continuing to demonstrate that our technology has been built independently from the ground up,” a spokesperson wrote in an email.
Waymo, a unit of Google parent Alphabet Inc., said it welcomed the order stopping Uber from using “stolen documents containing trade secrets developed by Waymo through years of research.”
Judge Alsup also ordered Uber to remove Mr. Levandowski from any role in Lidar, and that it stop him from copying or otherwise using the downloaded materials.
Mr. Levandowski formed Ottomotto, a self-driving vehicle startup, on Jan. 15, 2016. Twelve days later, he resigned from Waymo without giving notice. The following August, Uber bought Ottomotto for $680 million and hired Mr. Levandowski to lead its self-driving car efforts.
Last week, Judge Alsup took the rare step of referring the case to federal prosecutors for an investigation of possible criminal misconduct. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Francisco hasn’t responded to requests for comment.
Also Monday, Waymo confirmed that it is teaming up to test autonomous vehicles with Lyft, Uber’s main ride-hailing competitor, in a potential challenge to Uber.