Uber Threatens to Fire Engineer, Citing Demands of Court Order

Uber, under pressure from a court order in its battle with Alphabet over driverless technology, threatened to fire the engineer accused of taking files from his former employer if he doesn’t help the company obey the judge’s requests, according to Bloomberg.

Uber asked Anthony Levandowski to cooperate in the investigation into the allegedly stolen material or be terminated, according to a May 15 letter from Uber General Counsel Salle Yoo. Levandowski voluntarily stepped away from any role pertaining to the so-called lidar technology that was under development when he worked for Alphabet’s Waymo unit.

Levandowski, who isn’t a defendant in the lawsuit brought by Waymo, has refused to testify in the case, citing his Fifth Amendment right to avoid incriminating himself. Waymo alleges that Levandowski downloaded thousands of confidential files before he left the company to launch his own self-driving startup, Otto, that was acquired by Uber for almost $700 million.

It’s unclear yet if the order and Yoo’s demands represent a true wedge in the alliance between Uber and its engineer or if the general counsel’s letter and Levandowski’s response is another element of the litigation strategy to avoid a breakup. While the letter might appear to signal a shift in Uber’s attitude toward Levandowski, it’s much more likely intended to serve both of their immediate needs, according to Jim Pooley, a lawyer who isn’t connected to the case.

Levandowski remained at the head of Uber’s driverless car program until last month. He was demoted to appease Alsup, but the judge has maintained that Uber hasn’t done enough to pressure Levandowski to cooperate with the case. His May 11 order was designed to force a response. The Uber-Levandowski alliance will be tested again soon, as both head toward a May 25 hearing in which they’ll continue to resist Waymo’s efforts to gain access to a due-diligence report commissioned last year to assess the risks associated with Uber’s acquisition of Otto.