Uber Feared It Fell Behind in Driverless-Car Technology, Kalanick Testifies
February 06 2018 - 07:12PM
Dow Jones News
By Greg Bensinger
SAN FRANCISCO -- Former Uber Technologies Inc. chief Travis
Kalanick testified Tuesday the ride-hailing company grew concerned
in 2015 it was falling behind on developing self-driving vehicles
seen as critical to its future, prompting it to go into business
with a star Google engineer.
That decision opened up Uber to a blockbuster lawsuit from
Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo now under way in federal court over allegedly
stolen autonomous-car trade secrets. Waymo executives had grown
increasingly concerned about Uber poaching more executives as both
technology firms raced to build the first robot car, according to
evidence in the case.
Mr. Kalanick's appearance was the highlight on a day of mostly
technical evidence and video testimony. The trial began Monday in
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
The Uber chief said he began discussing a deal with Anthony
Levandowski while the engineer was still working at Waymo and
before he created an autonomous-truck company at the center of the
suit.
"He was adamant about starting a company and we were very
adamant about hiring him," Mr. Kalanick said.
The showdown pits Waymo, an offshoot of Google, against the most
highly valued U.S. startup over the future of autonomous vehicles.
Both companies are vying for a stake in the auto industry, which
claims some $2 trillion in annual revenue, according to Deloitte
Consulting.
The outcome could result in Uber being blocked from further
developing aspects of its robot cars and having to pay billions of
dollars in damages.
Waymo alleges Uber, as part of paying around $680 million to
acquire the Levandowski company later known as Otto, obtained and
used trade secrets related to technology known as lidar, or light
detection and ranging systems, used to guide self-driving
vehicles.
Uber conspired with Mr. Levandowski to download and bring it
sensitive Google files to get a leg up in developing lidar, Waymo
alleges. Uber denies the allegations.
"A great many things have been said about Anthony over the last
two days, but we are optimistic that he will eventually be
vindicated," a spokesman for Mr. Levandowski said.
Mr. Levandowski previously has indicated he will invoke his
Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Mr. Kalanick has
denied any theft in depositions.
Waymo attorney Charles Verhoeven showed December 2015 meeting
notes from former Uber executive John Bares, then the head of the
self-driving program, in which Mr. Kalanick appeared to be
singularly focused on lidar, as well as intellectual property. Uber
closed its deal for Otto in August 2017.
Mr. Kalanick said he didn't recall saying anything about
intellectual property.
"I wanted to hire Anthony and he wanted to start a company,"
said Mr. Kalanick. "So I tried to come up with a situation where he
could feel like he started a company and I could feel like I hired
him."
Mr. Bares said the company was burning through about $20 million
a month trying to develop reliable autonomous vehicles. Relying on
Mr. Levandowski's assistance would help pare the costs by speeding
up development, Mr. Bares said in his testimony.
The executive, who left Uber in summer 2017, said he felt
pressured to keep up with Mr. Kalanick's goal of getting 100,000
driverless cars on the road by 2020. Autonomous vehicles are
essential to Uber's business, Mr. Bares said, given human drivers
account for 70% to 80% of the cost of operating a vehicle in
ride-hailing.
"The people that can do that are going to win in the business,"
Mr. Bares said.
It was Mr. Kalanick's testimony, though, that perked up the
trial's second day, which was marked mostly by technical testimony
from a Google forensics expert who described how he determined Mr.
Levandowski had downloaded 14,107 sensitive files before quitting
the company.
Mr. Kalanick, who will continue his testimony on Wednesday,
appeared calm during rapid-fire questioning by Waymo's lead
attorney, offering mostly single-word responses while sipping on
small bottles of water.
Still, he acknowledged Google was and remains the leader in
self-driving vehicle technology. "That's the general perception
right now," he said.
Write to Greg Bensinger at greg.bensinger@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 06, 2018 18:57 ET (23:57 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024