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Alphabet says Uber knew about stolen self-driving car files

As part of a lawsuit, Alphabet's Waymo division tells a California court how it believes a former executive stole documents and brought them to Uber.

Ian Sherr Contributor and Former Editor at Large / News
Ian Sherr (he/him/his) grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, so he's always had a connection to the tech world. As an editor at large at CNET, he wrote about Apple, Microsoft, VR, video games and internet troubles. Aside from writing, he tinkers with tech at home, is a longtime fencer -- the kind with swords -- and began woodworking during the pandemic.
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Google says a former executive stole self-driving car documents and gave them to Uber.

 Waymo

It's always the cover-up that gets you.

That may be the lesson to learn from the latest court filing from Alphabet's Waymo self-driving division in its ongoing lawsuit with Uber over allegedly stolen self-driving car technology. 

In a Wednesday filing with a California court where the suit is being heard, Alphabet said a former self-driving executive Anthony Levandowski hatched a plan with Uber to steal more than 14,000 proprietary documents, including designs for the sensors that help the car see its surroundings. Uber acquired Levandowski's startup, Otto, for $680 million last summer.

Alphabet says Uber's former CEO, Travis Kalanick, knew about the files but told Levandowski to destroy them. Uber has argued that it did not encourage or condone Levandowski taking any files from Waymo or bringing them to Uber, and has noted that his employment agreement affirmed he wouldn't do that. 

The litigation between Alphabet and Uber has been reported as a primary reason Kalanick was forced to resign as Uber's CEO Tuesday.