‘It is war time’: Uber and Google in $US1 billion showdown over autonomous vehicle trade secrets

A BATTLE between two tech titans over trade secrets and corporate espionage has revealed how “the long-term defeat of Google” was Uber’s ultimate mission.

FORMER Uber CEO Travis Kalanick was well known for his disregard for rules and regulations during his time running the disruptive ride sharing company.

But his shoot first, ask questions later style could come back to haunt the company as it battles Google in court, accused of stealing trade secrets that come with a billion dollar price tag.

Waymo, a self-driving car pioneer that started within Google about nine years ago, is seeking $1.26 billion in damages. The allegations stem from an explosive lawsuit claiming that former Google car executive Anthony Levandowski took thousands of confidential files containing Google’s intellectual property before leaving the unit for a start-up called Otto, later acquired by Uber.

The two tech giants met in court this morning (AEDT) to begin the showdown which could impact the future of autonomous vehicles.

According to a 2017 report conducted by market researcher Navigant, Waymo ranked as the second most likely company to achieve the successful development of autonomous vehicle technology behind General Motors.

Despite commanding a majority of the headlines, Tesla didn’t make the top 10 in Navigant’s report.

In opening remarks before the jury in San Francisco federal court, Waymo lawyer Charles Verhoeven pointed to a number of private and public statements made by Mr Kalanick to paint the former Uber CEO as a man capable of a calculated conspiracy to win at any cost.

“He made a decision and the decision was to cheat,” Mr Verhoeven said. “He made the decision that winning was more important than the law.”

Private emails tendered to the court showed Mr Levandowski shared the then Uber CEO’s intense desire to win.

“I just see this as a race and we need to win, second place is first loser,” Mr Levandowski wrote to Mr Kalanick.

“We do need to think though (sic) the strategy to take all the shortcuts we can find,” he wrote on a separate occasion.

I'm loving these notes from the Travis Kalanick meetings, they're so ominous. "Cheat codes. Find them. Use them.”
"The golden time is over. It is war time."
"There are rules that separate order and chaos. Need to understand those rules."

— sarah jeong (@sarahjeong) February 5, 2018

Kalanick told Bloomberg, "I feel like we’re brothers from another mother" re: Levandowski.

— sarah jeong (@sarahjeong) February 5, 2018

Uber’s former chief executive Travis Kalanick was forced out of the company after a string of scandals. Photo: Danish Siddiqui

Mr Kalanick also told his colleagues that “this is all about winning”, Waymo’s lawyers argued, and that Uber knew it could not catch Waymo because the Google car unit was “ahead of the pack”.

For him, “the long-term defeat of Google” was the only way Uber could ensure its future.

It’s another potential black eye for the ride sharing company. In the past year alone, Uber has been rocked by revelations of rampant sexual harassment inside the company, technological trickery designed to thwart regulators and a year-long cover-up of a hacking attack that stole the personal information of 57 million passengers and 600,000 drivers.

Uber’s new chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi is currently working to get the company on course and prepare for a stock market debut in 2019.

During the first day of the case, Uber lawyer Bill Carmody sought to downplay the accusations and said the evidence would prove “there’s no conspiracy, there’s no cheating. Period. End of story”.

Mr Carmody said evidence would show Google and Waymo were failing to invest enough to keep the most talented staff, enabling Uber to hire them.

Alphabet Inc.’s self-driving car project has been working on autonomous driving technology for nearly a decade. Picture: Eric Risberg

The Uber defence lawyer pointed to one email shown in court in which the former head of Google’s car unit complained that “we have stopped playing to win” and noting that Uber “is acquiring the people I suggested we hire 1.5 years ago.”

In this context, Mr Carmody argued that for Uber “to spend hundreds of millions (for Otto) to get trade secrets, it doesn’t make sense”.

Uber lawyers also said the company had little to show for bringing Mr Levandowski on board.

That's the sound of Uber throwing Anthony Levandowski under the bus.

— Biz Carson (@bizcarson) February 5, 2018

The trial could last up to three weeks, with witnesses likely to include Mr Kalanick, Mr Levandowski and key Google executives.

To prevail, Waymo must show not only that documents were misappropriated but also used for “unjust enrichment.”

— with AFP