If Uber’s going to reach the goals it has set for its self-driving car program, it will have to do so without the engineer that heads the project.
Anthony Levandowski, chief engineer for Uber’s autonomous car program, has been fired, The New York Times reports. The decision, which was announced to employees in an email sent Tuesday, comes after Levandowski refused to testify in Waymo’s intellectual-property lawsuit, despite being urged to do so by Uber’s legal team.
Waymo, which spun out of Google’s car project, claims Levandowski stole lidar designs when he left Google, ultimately bringing them to Uber. The federal judging hearing the case reportedly asked Levandowski to hand over all evidence and to testify, but he instead asserted his fifth amendment rights.
Eric Meyhofer, head of Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group will lead the self-driving car team, an Uber spokesperson said, via The Times.
How the company’s program adjusts to life without Levandowski is anyone’s guess. Although, it’s not like the project currently is in a great place.
In addition to dealing with cars crashing, Uber’s program has failed to deliver on promises and hasn’t done much to instill confidence in consumers.
Thumbnail photo via Volvo
