Waymo, Lyft to team up on self-driving vehicles

At stake for Uber is nothing less than the company’s own future, with Uber execs staking huge bets and investments on self-driving cars being the next big technological breakthrough for the company and automotive industry.

In February Waymo filed a lawsuit claiming that a former manager took technical data when he left to launch a competing venture that was later acquired by Uber.

The court order also grants Waymo seven more depositions, and the ability to inspect its competitor Uber’s ongoing LiDAR work, including designs and code.

Alsup referred the case to the U.S. Department of Justice for investigation of possible trade secret theft on Thursday, when the ruling was released under seal.

Alsup said he made the recommendation “based on the evidentiary record”, but “takes no position on whether a prosecution is warranted”.

According to NY Times’ Mike Isaac, the deal is non-exclusive (both Lyft and Waymo have other deals in a similar fashion) but there isn’t much information on what types of products Lyft and Waymo would be collaborating or the timeline for public results.

The San Francisco judge also banned a top Uber engineer from involvement in certain work for the ride-hailing firm’s autonomous driving project. Uber will be allowed to continue developing its self-driving technology, but Levandowski won’t be allowed to participate in it. Alphabet has its own arm dedicated to the technology in Waymo, which was spun off from Google late previous year, and it has been keen to form useful partnerships where it can.

GM, which was already seen as a leader in self-driving technology, may be squarely in the driver’s seat thanks to its newfound connection with Waymo, even if it’s an indirect one. The company recently filed a lawsuit over Uber’s alleged use of stolen Waymo trade secrets and intellectual property to develop its technology.

Monday’s ruling is temporary, and is intended only to offer relief to Waymo while the case proceeds to a scheduled October trial. Not all of Waymo’s 121 asserted trade secrets indeed qualify as trade secrets, he added.

Uber has denied wrongdoing and said it plans to defend itself in court. If all of these companies were to work together in a connected alliance they would be rather formidable.

Rival ride-hailing firm Uber has been making significant headway in the driverless auto space and has already begun testing self-driving vehicles on US roads.