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Alphabet exec David Drummond leaves Uber's board amid overlap concerns

Exec who helped oversee Google's early investment in the startup leaves as conflict of interest concerns mount.

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Steven Musil Night Editor / News
Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.
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Alphabet executive David Drummond has left Uber's board over conflict of interest concerns.

 Alphabet

The race to put autonomous vehicles on the road has apparently cost one Alphabet executive his seat on Uber's board of directors.

David Drummond, Alphabet's senior vice president of corporate development, resigned from the ride-hailing startup's board several weeks ago amid rising concerns over conflict of interests. Drummond, who had been on Uber's board since 2013, helped oversee Google's $250 million venture-capital investment in Uber that same year.

Drummond confirmed his departure from Uber's board in an statement that indicated the relationship between GV -- Alphabet's venture capital arm -- and Uber remains strong.

"I recently stepped down from Uber's board given the overlap between the two companies," Drummond said in a statement provided by Google parent Alphabet. "GV remains an enthusiastic investor and Google will continue to partner with Uber."

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said in a statement that "its been a pleasure having David on the board... and look forward to continued cooperation and partnership."

Fresh off raising $3.5 billion in June, the 6-year-old company is using some of its $11 billion war chest to reinvent public transportation. Other companies working on technologies to support driverless cars include Google, Ford, Nissan and General Motors.

The San Francisco-based startup is also said to be investing $500 million in an ambitious global mapping project to reduce its dependence on Google Maps.