Judge Sends the Uber vs. Waymo Case to DOJ for Investigation U.S. District Judge William Alsup also partially granted Waymo's bid for an injunction.
By Richard Lawler •
This story originally appeared on PCMag
In the latest bad news for Uber, the judge presiding over its trade secrets lawsuit with Google self-driving car unit Waymo has asked federal prosecutors to investigate the case.
Reuters and Bloomberg report that U.S. District Judge William Alsup said he is not taking a position on whether charges are warranted, but this is the second investigation into Uber, along with an inquiry into its "greyballing" scheme. At the same time, he denied a request by Uber to take the case to private arbitration, opting to keep things in the public eye and also partially granted Waymo's request for an injunction.
That ruling is under seal, for now, but Anthony Levandowski, the engineer at the center of the case, has said he's recusing himself from LiDAR-related work while the case is ongoing. That technology, which allows self-driving vehicles to see where they're going, is what Waymo claims he took, and if Uber has to start over it could cost the company years of time.
