Uber and Google’s Waymo face off in court over theft of secrets allegations
San Francisco — Two tech giants racing for a lead in autonomous driving clashed in court on Monday as former Google car unit Waymo’s lawyer argued that Uber’s boss deliberately chose "to cheat" to get a leg up on competitors. The accusations flew in the opening day of a blockbuster tech-sector trial in which Google parent Alphabet’s Waymo division is seeking at least $1bn over the theft of secrets from its self-driving car programme. In opening remarks before the jury in San Francisco federal court, Waymo lawyer Charles Verhoeven maintained that Uber’s founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick made the decision to use stolen trade secrets to enable the global ride-sharing giant to move into autonomous driving. "He made a decision and the decision was to cheat," Verhoeven said. "He made the decision that winning was more important than the law." Uber has denied the allegations, which stem from a lawsuit claiming that former Google car executive Anthony Levandowski took thousands of file...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.