Uber still using Waymo-derived self-driving technology, expert says

Enlarge / Uber self-driving test vehicles. (credit: Uber)

In a Tuesday filing with the Security and Exchange Commission, Uber admitted that an independent expert had determined that Uber’s self-driving technology was still infringing Waymo’s intellectual property. The revelation comes more than 18 months after Uber settled a high-profile legal battle with Waymo over alleged theft of Waymo secrets by Uber.

As a result, Uber says, it will be forced to either license the relevant technology from Waymo—which could be expensive—or overhaul the affected systems. The filing didn’t specify which parts of Uber’s technology were infringing, and an Uber spokeswoman declined to comment further to Ars Technica. Uber’s disclosure was first reported by Reuters.

Waymo filed a lawsuit against Uber in February 2017 after a former Waymo manager, Anthony Levandowski, left Waymo to found a self-driving truck startup called Otto. Uber bought Otto just a few months after it was founded and incorporated the company into Uber’s own fledgling self-driving project. But Waymo accused Levandowski of downloading numerous sensitive documents from Waymo’s network before leaving the company and then using them to build the self-driving systems at Otto and Uber.