Uber has denied allegations in a lawsuit by Waymo that it stole some self-driving technology, calling them “a baseless attempt to slow down a competitor.”
Here’s the statement an Uber spokesperson sent to Business Insider Friday:
“We are incredibly proud of the progress that our team has made. We have reviewed Waymo’s claims and determined them to be a baseless attempt to slow down a competitor and we look forward to vigorously defending against them in court. In the meantime, we will continue our hard work to bring self-driving benefits to the world.”
Waymo, the Alphabet company that formed out of Google’s self-driving research, filed a lawsuit against Uber alleging that a former Waymo employee, Anthony Levandowski, took information from a company laptop related to the development of a proprietary lidar system. Levandowski was later hired by Uber after Uber bought his self-driving trucking company, Otto. Waymo now says it has evidence Uber is using the stolen lidar plans to develop its own proprietary lidar system.
Uber initially appeared to be blindsided Thursday by the claims when Waymo filed its lawsuit on Thursday, saying only that it would “review the matter carefully.” Neither company would discuss whether there had been any behind-the-scenes conversations about the matter in the weeks or months leading up to the lawsuit.
A Waymo spokesperson didn't have a comment beyond the lawsuit it filed Thursday and blog post detailing its allegations against Uber.
