In the last few weeks Alphabet filed a lawsuit against Uber. Alphabet and Waymo (Alphabet’s self-driving car company) allege that Anthony Levandowski, an ex-Waymo manager, stole confidential and proprietary information from Waymo, then used it in his own self-driving truck startup, Otto. Uber acquired Otto in August 2016, so the suit was filed against Uber, not Otto.
Reading between the lines, (in my opinion) Alphabet is implying that Mr Levandowski arranged with Uber to:
- Steal LiDAR and other self-driving component designs from Waymo
- Start Otto as a plausible corporate vehicle for developing the self-driving technology
- Acquire Otto for $680 million
Source: The Uber Bombshell About to Drop – Daniel With Music
