Uber fires head of its self-driving car program
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FILE - In this Dec. 16, 2014, file photo a man leaves the headquarters of Uber in San Francisco. The ride-hailing company said Thursday, April 7, 2016 it will pay at least $10 million to settle a case in which California prosecutors alleged it misled passengers over the quality of its driver background checks. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File) (Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistribu)
Now there’s really no one in the driver’s seat for Uber’s driverless cars.
The ride-sharing company confirmed Tuesday that it has terminated Anthony Levandowski, who had headed the company’s self-driving program since August.
Levandowski was the nexus in a trade-secret suit filed by Google since the executive once led the self-driving initiatives at both tech companies.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Levandowski was sued in March by his former employer — Waymo, the self-driving unit spun out of Google — on grounds he stole “9.7 GB of highly confidential data,” according to court papers filed in San Francisco federal court.
While Waymo alleges the stolen trade secrets have allowed Uber to unfairly catch up in the race to turn driverless cars into a trillion-dollar industry, Uber initially stood by its tech star.