Kalanick ‘knew engineer had Google discs’
Ousted Uber Technologies head Travis Kalanick learnt early in 2016 that the engineer who until recently oversaw the company’s driverless car project possessed discs of information from Google, a court filing reads.
Kalanick, who resigned under pressure on Monday, told Anthony Levandowski in about March 2016 that Uber did not want the information and that he should not bring it to the ride-hailing company. The engineer told management he had destroyed the discs, according to the filing.
The exchange was revealed late on Wednesday in a trade secrets lawsuit that Alphabet’s self-driving car project, Waymo, filed against Uber in a San Francisco federal court.
While driverless cars are not expected on US roads for five to 10 years, the companies are fighting for technology that will put the winner ahead of rivals, including established car makers, in a multibillion-dollar industry. The litigation was cited as a primary cause of concern in an investor letter to Kalanick that led to his resignation.
Waymo argues in the filing that Uber’s delayed disclosure on June 5 of the exchange and its knowledge of the destruction of the discs require the company to prove to US district judge William Alsup that it is not in contempt of court for repeatedly violating his orders to turn over the information.
Neither an Uber spokesman nor a Waymo spokesman responded immediately to e-mails seeking comment. Waymo claims Levandowski and Uber hatched a plan in 2015 for him to steal more than 14,000 proprietary files including the designs for lidar technology, which helps driverless cars see their surroundings.
Uber, which acquired Levandowski’s start-up, Otto, in August for $680m, has denied Waymo’s allegations. The ridehailing company says its automation technology has been developed without significant input from Levandowski.
Kalanick’s knowledge that Levandowski had information about his rival’s driverless car research puts him at the centre of another headline-grabbing controversy. As the company searches for a new leader, it is also grappling with allegations of having a male-dominated culture and overlooking employee claims of sexual harassment, mishandling an incident in which a female passenger in India was raped, creating software to avoid government regulators and mistreating drivers.
The lawsuit was among the main reasons investors cited for demanding that Kalanick resign.