Anthony Levandowski, Otto Co-founder and VP of Engineering at Uber
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In a court hearing on Wednesday, Waymo's lawyers alleged that Anthony Levandowski – its former employee who is at the center of its contentious lawsuit against Uber – started his self-driving truck company Otto as a ruse so Uber could acquire it and steal proprietary information about Google's self-driving car program.
"We've learned that Uber and Levandowski together created a cover-up scheme for what they were doing," Charles Verhoeven, a lawyer for Waymo, said. "They concocted a story for public consumption. The story was that Mr. Levandowski left Waymo for his own company."
Waymo's lawyers pointed to a stock agreement that gave Levandowski more than $5 million shares of vesting stock – an amount Waymo's lawyers said was worth about $250 million – on January 28, 2016, the day after Levandowski left Google.
According to state records, Levandowski’s company Ottomotto LLC was incorporated in Delaware on January 15, 2016. Uber acquired Otto and appointed Levandowski as head of its self-driving car program a few months later, in July 2016.
Uber told reporters outside the courtroom that the stock was granted at the time of the acquisition but the vesting was back-dated to account for Levandowski's time at Otto. The ride-hail giant's lawyers didn't address the vesting agreement in court.
The lawyers also pointed to emails sent in January by Brian McClendon, Uber's former vice president of maps who left the company earlier this year, that referenced a meeting with "Anthony," presumed to be Levandowski.
The hearing on Wednesday is centering around whether US District Judge William Alsup should grant Waymo's request for an injunction to halt Uber's self-driving program pending a trial.
The lawsuit centers around laser technology called LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging), which helps self-driving cars see and navigate. Uber says its own technology is “fundamentally different” from Waymo’s designs. Waymo alleges Levandowski downloaded 14,000 company files before leaving the company to start Otto.
This is a developing news story. Check back for updates.
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