Days after ex-Uber CEO Travis Kalanick (above) testified in a lawsuit, the ride-hailing company settled with Google’s self-driving unit Waymo over claims of stolen trade secrets
Uber is settling a lawsuit filed by Google’s autonomous car unit alleging that the ride-hailing service ripped off self-driving car technology.
Both sides in the case issued statements confirming the settlement Friday morning in the midst of a federal court trial in the case.
Google’s Waymo unit says Uber agreed to take steps to make sure Waymo technology isn’t used in Uber’s autonomous vehicles.
Waymo says Uber also agreed to pay about $245 million.
Uber’s CEO says in a printed statement that the company doesn’t believe trade secrets made their way from Waymo to Uber.
He also says Uber is taking steps to make sure its self-driving vehicle research represents only Uber’s work.
Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement announcing the settlement that ‘while we do not believe that any trade secrets made their way from Waymo to Uber… we are taking steps with Waymo to ensure our Lidar and software represents just our good work.’
Google’s Waymo unit says Uber agreed to take steps to make sure Waymo technology isn’t used in Uber’s autonomous vehicles. Waymo says Uber also agreed to pay about $245 million. A Waymo driverless car is seen in the stock image above
The trial so far included testimony from former Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick, who denied a conspiracy to steal trade secrets in a tense two-day court appearance.
Alphabet’s Waymo division was seeking at least $1 billion over the theft of secrets from its self-driving car program in the trial before federal judge William Alsup.
If the case had gone to the jury and Waymo had prevailed, it would have dealt a severe blow to Uber’s efforts to widely deploy self-driving vehicles as part of its ridesharing operations – a field that also includes Waymo and other rivals.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement that ‘we do not believe that any trade secrets made their way from Waymo to Uber’
Waymo had accused Uber of conspiring with former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski, who had been accused of downloading thousands of proprietary documents before leaving the company and ending up at Uber.
Khosrowshahi said in a statement he regretted the handling of the Levandowski matter, which occurred before he took over last year.
‘My job as Uber’s CEO is to set the course for the future of the company: innovating and growing responsibly, as well as acknowledging and correcting mistakes of the past,’ he said.
‘In doing so, I want to express regret for the actions that have caused me to write this letter.’
He added, ‘To our friends at Alphabet: we are partners, you are an important investor in Uber, and we share a deep belief in the power of technology to change people’s lives for the better. Of course, we are also competitors.’