Uber fires former Waymo star engineer
Levandowski headed firm’s self-driving unit
Amid a bitter trade secrets lawsuit, Uber has fired former star engineer Anthony Levandowski, who headed its self-driving unit, according to a termination letter dated Friday that was circulated internally on Tuesday.
Mr. Levandowski, who once worked as a senior engineer for Google’s autonomous vehicles spinoff Waymo, allegedly downloaded 14,000 confidential files from Waymo before departing and creating his own company, which was acquired by San Franciscobased Uber.
Earlier this month, Judge William Alsup in San Francisco ruled that Mr. Levandowski must return the files to Waymo by May 31. In Uber’s termination memo to Mr. Levandowski, the ride-hailing company cited his failure to return the files, among other broken terms of employment, as sufficient cause for removal.
Waymo sued Uber Technologies Inc. in February for trade-secret misappropriation, patent infringement and unfair competition related to a proprietary light detection and ranging (lidar) module that Waymo believes Mr. Levandowski had been copying.
Lidar, which is a central sensor in autonomous car perception, may cost up to $75,000 off the shelf, so companies such as Waymo have created their own versions to cut costs. A May 15 order forbade Uber from using any technology related to the navigational tool.
When the judge ordered Mr. Levandowski to hand over the confidential files, he invoked his Fifth Amendment constitutional right against self-incrimination. While Uber has largely been viewed as supportive of Mr. Levandowski, it could not force him to submit the allegedly stolen files.
In the letter that was added to court filings Tuesday, Uber stated that Mr. Levandowski’s failure to produce the files “impeded Uber’s internal investigation and defense of the lawsuit.”
The letter also stated that under Mr. Levandowski’s employment agreement, he should have returned or destroyed all property and confidential information belonging to any prior employer.
An Uber spokesperson confirmed Tuesday that Mr. Levandowski did not comply with its internal investigation and that he did not meet deadlines that the company had set for him. Uber stated it would not wait for the issue to make its way through court.
The lawsuit will head to trial later this year.