WEBVTT - Uber vs Waymo

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<v Speaker 1>Google startup company Weymo and car service company Uber are

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<v Speaker 1>gearing up for a massive court battle, and it all

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<v Speaker 1>has to do with self driving cars. I'm Jonathan Strickland,

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<v Speaker 1>and this is tech stuff. Daily lawsuits focusing on intellectual

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<v Speaker 1>property are fairly common in the text sphere. For example,

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<v Speaker 1>Apple and Samsung have waged global war against one another

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<v Speaker 1>in various courtrooms with claims and counterclaims of IP theft.

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<v Speaker 1>But there's a face off that has been garnering more

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<v Speaker 1>attention in the technosphere over the course of it pits

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<v Speaker 1>Weymo against Uber. Weymo is a spinoff company from Google.

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<v Speaker 1>It got its start as Google's self driving research and

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<v Speaker 1>development team. Today it's one of several companies under the

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<v Speaker 1>umbrella of Google's parent company, Alphabet. Uber is the car

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<v Speaker 1>service company that has been fighting pr battles on multiple

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<v Speaker 1>fronts over the last couple of years. Company executives have

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<v Speaker 1>faced tough questions about sexual harassment, background checks on Uber drivers,

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<v Speaker 1>the number of hours drivers work during a week, and more.

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<v Speaker 1>But this particular battle focuses on valuable information and technology

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<v Speaker 1>for self driving cars. Much of the case depends upon

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<v Speaker 1>the actions of Anthony Lewandowski He's an engineer who used

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<v Speaker 1>to work for Google's self driving car team before he

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<v Speaker 1>left the company to found his own startup called Auto

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<v Speaker 1>O t t O. The startups goal was to create

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<v Speaker 1>self driving trucks, something many experts believe is an inevitability

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<v Speaker 1>that will disrupt the shipping industry. Lewandowski's history with autonomous

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<v Speaker 1>vehicles dates back to two thousand four, when the Defense

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<v Speaker 1>Advanced Research Projects Agency a k A DARPA held the

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<v Speaker 1>Grand Challenge. This was a race that picked teams against

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<v Speaker 1>each other to build autonomous vehicles capable of racing against

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<v Speaker 1>the clock in a desert between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

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<v Speaker 1>Lewandowski's team designed a self driving motorcycle. It didn't win,

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<v Speaker 1>but it did turn a lot of heads. He went

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<v Speaker 1>on to work with Sebastian Thrunn, who led us Stanford

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<v Speaker 1>University team to a victory in the second DARPA Grand Challenge.

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<v Speaker 1>Thrond's team, including Lewandowski, were brought on to Google after

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<v Speaker 1>the company acquired a tool the team had built that

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<v Speaker 1>served as one of the pillars for Google's street View project.

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<v Speaker 1>When Google began to explore the possibilities of autonomous vehicles,

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<v Speaker 1>Lewandowski was an instrumental part of the team, but he

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<v Speaker 1>became restless and started to look at creating a new

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<v Speaker 1>startup company in the self driving vehicle space in two

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<v Speaker 1>thousand fifteen. That was also the year Google valuated the

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<v Speaker 1>self driving car project at four point five billion dollars,

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<v Speaker 1>which meant Lewandowski earned a fifty million dollar bonus. Lewandowski

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<v Speaker 1>left Google and launched Auto in May. Later, Google executives

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<v Speaker 1>began to investigate Lewandowski's departure. At least one executive previously

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<v Speaker 1>suggested to human resources that Lewandowski be terminated from his position,

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<v Speaker 1>citing some suspect behavior. Google claims the investigation discovered that

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<v Speaker 1>Lewandowski had downloaded some fourteen thousand confidential files to a

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<v Speaker 1>personal computer before leaving Google. These files represented an enormous

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<v Speaker 1>amount of research and tech in the autonomous vehicle field,

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<v Speaker 1>including a great deal about lidar. That's a laser based

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<v Speaker 1>sensing and guidance system that Google self driving vehicles rely

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<v Speaker 1>upon for navigation and environment detection. But where does Uber

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<v Speaker 1>come in. Lewandowski apparently did some consulting work with Uber

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<v Speaker 1>in sixteen, and the company eventually hired him and acquired

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<v Speaker 1>his company Otto for a reported six hundred eighty million dollars,

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<v Speaker 1>though Uber disputes this amount. Google's self driving car division

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<v Speaker 1>at this point, known as Weymo, began to investigate the

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<v Speaker 1>possibility that Lewandowski and Uber came to this agreement largely

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<v Speaker 1>because of the proprietary information Lewandowski was privy to. Uber

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<v Speaker 1>denies these allegations. Lewandowski has executed his Fifth Amendment rights,

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<v Speaker 1>protecting him again self incrimination, and won't speak to authorities. Recently,

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<v Speaker 1>a former Uber employee named Richard Jacobs stirred the pot

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<v Speaker 1>when the U. S. Attorney's Office took a piece of

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<v Speaker 1>evidence from an employment dispute between Jacobs and Uber and

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<v Speaker 1>submitted it to the Weymo versus Uber case. That evidence

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<v Speaker 1>was a thirty seven page letter written by Jacobs's lawyer,

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<v Speaker 1>and it had some pretty damning evidence in it. In

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<v Speaker 1>that letter, there are claims that Uber had dedicated teams

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<v Speaker 1>and resources specifically to gaining access to trade secrets from competitors,

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<v Speaker 1>trade secrets like the ones included in those fourteen thousand

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<v Speaker 1>files Lewandowski saved to his personal machine. Uber disputes the

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<v Speaker 1>claims in the letter, but the company also paid a

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<v Speaker 1>settlement to Jacobs to the tune of four point five

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<v Speaker 1>million dollars, with another three million dollars going to Jacobs's lawyer.

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<v Speaker 1>Paying seven point five million dollars to settle a dispute

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<v Speaker 1>makes it sound like there may have been something to

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<v Speaker 1>worry about in those allegations. Nothing yet has been proven

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<v Speaker 1>in court. However, the story is even more complicated than

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<v Speaker 1>what I've laid out, and there are other interesting tangential elements.

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<v Speaker 1>For example, Lewandowski recently founded a nonprofit organization called Way

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<v Speaker 1>of the Future, a religious organization with the goal to

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<v Speaker 1>quote develop and promote the realization of a Godhead based

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<v Speaker 1>on artificial intelligence, and through understanding and worship of the Godhead,

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<v Speaker 1>contribute to the betterment of society end quote. Something tells

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<v Speaker 1>me I should probably dedicate an entire episode to just

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<v Speaker 1>that little nugget of news. To learn more about some

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<v Speaker 1>of the craziest legal battles in tech, as well as

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<v Speaker 1>how this technology actually works. Subscribe to the Tech Stuff podcast,

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<v Speaker 1>we published twice a week on Wednesdays and Fridays, and

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<v Speaker 1>we take a closer look at all this chaos in

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<v Speaker 1>an effort to make some sense out of it I'll

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<v Speaker 1>see you again soon.