Google takes aim at engineer left untouched by suit against Uber

FILE- In this Dec. 13, 2016, file photo, Anthony Levandowski, head of Uber's self-driving program, speaks about their driverless car in San Francisco. Uber has settled a lawsuit alleging that it ripped off self-driving car technology from Google's autonomous vehicle division, both confirmed the settlement Friday, Feb. 9, 2018. In the lawsuit, Waymo contended that former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick teamed up with ex-Google engineer Levandowski to steal LIDAR laser sensor technology. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

Uber Technologies Inc’s settlement of Waymo’s trade-secrets lawsuit in February left a key piece unresolved: the role played by Anthony Levandowski, the engineer at the centre of the alleged theft of critical self-driving technology. 

Starting April 30, Levandowski goes to trial to defend himself – and at least US$120mil (RM471.30mil) in incentive payments he collected from the search giant before he defected to Uber. He’s fighting Google’s claims that he breached his contract as one of the leaders of its autonomous vehicle unit, now called Waymo, by recruiting from its ranks for his rival company, Otto.