Uber fires back at Google spin-off

Ride-hailing service claims it started work on self-driving technology over a year earlier

Uber is scoffing at claims that its expansion into self-driving cars hinges on trade secrets stolen from a Google spin-off, arguing that its ride-hailing service has been working on potentially superior technology.

The legal defence, presented in documents filed on Friday in San Francisco federal court, marks Uber’s first detailed response to explosive allegations that its self-driving cars rely on crucial technology designed by Waymo. That company was created from an autonomousvehicle project started at Google eight years ago.

Once a Google ally, Uber emerged as a rival in the selfdriving car market in early 2015 when it began developing its own fleet of autonomous vehicles. Now, Waymo is trying to thwart that effort by persuading US District Judge William Alsup to block Uber’s self-car driving expansion on the grounds that it hinges on a high-tech heist. The case’s outcome could alter the race to build self-driving cars that may transform transportation, reduce traffic deaths and launch a huge new industry.

Waymo filed suit against Uber in February, claiming that a former manager, Anthony Levandowski, stole its patented ideas. After the alleged theft, Levandowski left Google early last year to found a self-driving car start-up called Otto that Uber bought for $680 million Dh2.49 billion) last August.

But Uber is now presenting evidence that it began working on technology dramatically different from Waymo’s more than a year before buying Otto.

The dispute centres on a pivotal part of self-driving cars called LiDAR, an array of laser-based sensors that enable self-driving cars to see what’s around them so they can safely navigate roads.

In sworn declarations and diagrams, Uber argued that its engineers are working on a more sophisticated form of LiDAR than Waymo’s. Among other things, Uber says its LiDAR uses four lenses for transmitting and receiving laser lights as opposed to the single lens in Waymo’s version.

Uber may have its work cut out to sway Alsup, who has said in previous court hearings that Waymo has presented some of the strongest evidence he has seen in his judicial career. A hearing on Waymo’s request for an injunction against Uber is scheduled for May 3.

Levandowski helped establish Google as an early leader in self-driving cars, earning him more than $120 million in incentive pay.