article by Wakabayashi and Isaac

The Uber-Waymo Lawsuit

The paper by Wakabayashi and Isaac focuses on how Uber stole Google’s self-driving car technology. As a result, Waymo filed a federal court complaint in San Francisco accusing Uber of stealing its intellectual property. Waymo claims that Anthony Levandowski, Uber’s head of autonomous vehicles, used to work at Google and copied 14,000 files before leaving the firm. Anthony used these files to launch Otto, his self-driving car firm. Uber paid $680 million to acquire Otto. As such, Uber and Otto have taken the intellectual property of Waymo so that they can forego the cost of time and developing new technology, as well as the associated risks. For the lawsuit, Uber did not respond to the requests. Anthony left Google to partner with Lior Ron to establish Otto. In Detroit and Silicon Valley, companies are betting at a great extent for the technology of self-driving car. This has triggered numerous lawsuits and expensive investments. Uber is one company that has focused on investing heavily on this technology. The firm has even approached Volvo for a deal to manufacture the XC-90 as a self-driving vehicle.

Analysis

The modern levels of technology development are being experienced in the automotive industry. As such, companies in this industry have embarked on using their technologies as a means of ensuring that they provide the best for what is desired in the market. These firms have focused on competing in technology, as well as the labor force. Anthony could have stolen the files, but he just realized how potential the technology would be for his business. It was wrong for him to do so, but on the other hand Google should have protected its trade secrets. It is good to have Uber competing with Google so that technology on self-driving cars is improved such that customers will get the best experience.

Works Cited

Wakabayashi, Daisuke and Isaac, Mike. Google self-driving car unit accuses Uber of using

stolen technology. Feb. 23, 2017. Web. 21st June, 2017. < https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/23/technology/google-self-driving-waymo-uber-otto-lawsuit.html>