Car stuff (public number: chedongxi)
Author | Alice
Edited by | Xiaohan
The dust has settled on the first major autonomous driving dispute case in the United States!
A few days ago, shared mobility giant Uber reached a settlement with Google and the engineer involved in the case, Anthony Levandowski, on suspicion of stealing Google's driverless technology.
Uber will pay Levandowski hundreds of millions of dollars in fines to Google, and the years-long litigation and entanglement between the three parties finally have a conclusion.
One of the most dramatic and complex stories in the U.S. self-driving industry has finally come to an end.
The protagonist of this incident, Levandowski, was an early pioneer in the self-driving industry, initially working in Google's self-driving division (later split into Waymo), after which he left Google to start his own self-driving company, Otto. In 2016, Otto was acquired by Uber, and founder Levandowski joined Uber as head of its autonomous driving division.
Uber's self-driving car
After that, Waymo, a google-owned self-driving company, said Uber was suspected of stealing trade secrets from its self-driving technology and filed a lawsuit. The two sides then reached a settlement in 2018, with Uber paying Waymo $245 million (about 1.55 billion yuan) in damages and promising not to use Waymo's confidential technology.
Levandowski was subsequently fired from Uber and faced criminal charges and civil lawsuits, and was sentenced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages to Google and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Many people may think that this is the end of the matter, but things are far more than that. Levandowski then sued Uber for $4.1 billion in a previous deal to buy Oto.
At the same time, the former Google and Uber engineer, who was also pardoned by former President Trump, restored his freedom and continued to start a business, and the new company also has unlimited potential.
So what really happened between the three parties in these years? Why did Uber pay compensation for Levandowski after it settled with Waymo? Che Dongxi sorted out the key nodes and details in this automatic driving dispute case, and described the incident in detail.
First, the dust has settled Uber pays most of the compensation to Google
Last week, Anthony Levandowski signed a mediation agreement with Google and Uber, and the three parties reached a settlement agreement to resolve the dispute.
Under the agreement, Uber will pay Google on Levandowski's behalf a "significant portion" of the $179 million (about 1.132 billion yuan) awarded in the 2020 arbitration. At the same time, Uber will also pay Levandowski $2 million (about 12.65 million yuan).
A document filed with the court shows that Levandowski's financial advisers believed the amount in the settlement agreement was sufficient for Levandowski to pay all claims against him.
The settlement avoids an embarrassing trial that Uber could face and could also mark the end of Levandowski's bankruptcy proceedings.
Levandowski's story in the field of autonomous driving is full of drama, and his legal case is also full of drama.
It's important to note that Uber didn't pay the full amount of $179 million (about 1.132 billion yuan), which was hidden in the filing and protected by a confidentiality clause.
▲Screenshot of trial documents
According to foreign media reports, Uber paid less than $100 million (about 632 million yuan) in damages to Levandowski.
"The tripartite settlement ensures that ongoing litigation in relation to these disputes, as well as the risks and costs associated with them, will cease," the three parties wrote in a document. ”
Second, he was sentenced to $179 million in damages for stealing trade secrets
Anthony Levandowski was an executive in Google's self-driving division before leaving Google to start his own self-driving truck company, Otto. The company was quickly acquired by Uber for $680 million (about 4.3 billion yuan) to become Uber's autonomous driving research and development arm.
▲Anthony Levandowski
In 2017, Waymo sued Uber for allegedly stealing trade secrets from its self-driving cars.
Waymo said in the lawsuit that Levandowski downloaded about 14,000 "highly confidential" documents on research on self-driving technology before leaving Google and used them for Otto's self-driving project. Otto was quickly acquired by Uber. In other words, Waymo believes Uber got its own classified documents through Levandowski.
The lawsuit was settled in February 2018, with Uber agreeing to pay Waymo $245 million (about 1.55 billion yuan).
▲Waymo driverless vehicle
The civil lawsuit between Waymo and Uber ended here. But Levandowski himself continues to face allegations of theft and deception.
In August 2019, U.S. district attorneys charged Levandowski with a total of 33 counts, including theft and attempted theft of trade secrets, while working at Google.
In March 2020, the court ordered Levandowski to pay $179 million (about 1.132 billion yuan) in damages to Google.
Hours after the verdict, Levandowski claimed $179 million (about 1.132 billion yuan) of debt far exceeded his assets, could not pay the penalty, and filed for bankruptcy protection.
Notably, before filing for bankruptcy, Levandowski bought a $25,000 (158,000 yuan) engagement ring for his fiancée, invested $250,000 (about 1.58 million yuan) in his company, gave her a $130,000 Tesla car, and paid her more than $300,000 (1,898,000 yuan).
In addition, he has invested more than $8.5 million (about 53.77 million yuan) in its new self-driving truck startup Pronto.ai.
While Levandowski has large stakes in real estate, investment funds and family members' businesses, he has said he is unable to repay Google's compensation.
In July 2020, Levandowski filed a new lawsuit against Uber, which, if successful, would turn Levandowski around in monetary terms.
Levandowski claims that Uber's settlement with Waymo, a never-before-disclosed agreement, included the idea that Uber would no longer hire him or work with him. However, the agreement led Uber to renege on its promise to support Levandowski in its freight business.
The allegations say a plan after Otto's acquisition ends, asking for a portion of the profits generated by Otto's owner Uber's new freight business. Levandowski will also be appointed non-executive chairman and take control of the new freight business. As an alternative, Uber could refuse to complete the deal but grant Levandowski Otto and Uber an exclusive license to self-driving technology.
Levandowski's lawsuit claims neither of these things happened.
Levandowski, meanwhile, believes and says he should earn gains related to Uber Freight (Otto Trucking's new name) profits, which "should be at least $4.128 billion."
Levandowski also wants to ask Uber to pay Google $179 million (about 1.132 billion yuan) in compensation on his behalf.
Interestingly, as far as Google itself is concerned, it is very hopeful that Levandowski will win. Google noted in a filing: "(Levandowski) cannot fully complete the compensation against Google (or his other creditors) if he does not receive back his claim for compensation against Uber." ”
Although Uber and Waymo have already settled in 2018, Uber cannot back down from Levandowski's dispute with Google because of the previous agreement between Uber and Levandowski. Therefore, the drama between the three parties has been staged.
Third, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison and was pardoned by Trump
After being sentenced to 179 million yuan (about 1.132 billion yuan) in damages, the bankrupt Levandowski was once again subject to criminal charges.
In August 2020, the U.S. District Attorney's Office recommended a 27-month sentence for stealing Google's self-driving trade secrets, but was shortened to 18 months due to COVID-19 and postponed.
At the same time, Levandowski agreed to pay a fine of US$95,000 and a us$756,500 compensation.
But in reality, the engineer hadn't even eaten a day's "prison meal."
In early 2021, during former U.S. President Trump's last-day term, pardons were a tradition before previous presidents left office, and Trump signed 73 pardons and 70 commutation orders.
The amnesty list includes Anthony Levandowski, a former engineer for Google and Uber's self-driving project.
Levandowski tweeted to thank Trump
The White House amnesty statement showed: "Anthony Levandowski has paid a heavy price for his actions and he will continue to use his talents to advance the public interest." ”
Fourth, the engineers involved in the case get rid of the dispute and continue to start a business
Foreign media believe that the final settlement agreement signed by the three parties is related to Google's secret promotion.
In some cases, Google's lawyers were actually working with Levandowski's lawyers because the end result was to hold Uber accountable for the arbitral award, which seemed to be Google's best hope of getting damages.
In addition to Uber paying most of the damages, the settlement requires Levandowski to use his property to pay Google a certain amount of compensation of at least $25 million (about 158 million yuan) and up to $30 million (about 190 million yuan) if the funds are sufficient. Levandowski must also "represent and warrant" that he has not provided Google's secret or confidential information to anyone else, in particular to "Pronto.ai or any Pronto.ai-related entity."
Levandowski's startup Pronto.ai recently launched a cryptocurrency-powered peer-to-peer telecommunications network called Pollen.
▲Screenshot of Pronto.ai official website
Pollen's website shows that its originally released devices have been sold out. In addition, Levandowski's younger brother Max, who has worked with him in Otto, Uber and Pronto.ai, said on LinkedIn that the company plans to release new hardware.
In response to this settlement, Uber has not responded at present. On the other hand, Google spokeswoman José Casta eda said: "We can confirm that this matter has been resolved." ”
Levandowski also did not respond to this. For the engineer, the deal, while not a victory, will soon be free to advance his Pollen network freely from the drag of expensive, time-consuming lawsuits and outstanding debts.
Conclusion: After the dispute is resolved, autonomous driving will go farther and farther
Waymo, the world's largest self-driving company, has finally succeeded in defending its rights, and whether Uber has long known about the conspiracy is no longer necessary to debate.
A tripartite settlement may be the best way to resolve this matter. Waymo and Uber will also continue to carry out their own self-driving projects, levandowski has also repented, and the current career is also smooth.
The dispute is over, and for self-driving companies, it is most important to come up with a high level of autonomous driving technology.