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Here's another comment from an HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12558078 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12558078 "Otto was designed to

Here's another comment from an HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12558078 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12558078 "Otto was designed to be sold to Uber before it was created, there's a reason it was self-funded despite having nearly 100 employees by the time it was acquired. Anthony Levandowski met Travis Kalanick years ago and had been planning something like this for a while. It's basically an open secret."

transfire 10y ago
But how do we know Google wasn't the one making that plan? I find it strange that Google paid Levandowski millions in bonuses after he quit abruptly and after they already knew he was starting a company with their IP.
- mattmanser 10y ago
  The bonuses could have been historically earned?
  - cvoss 10y ago
    Via a recent Bloomberg article [0], the (pre-Waymo) car project had an "unorthodox compensation system" resulting in "multi-million dollar payouts" that were somehow tied to the success/value of the project. A fascinating and weird way to incentivize hard work. [0] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-13/one-reason-staffers-quit-google-s-car-project-the-company-paid-them-so-much https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-13/one-reaso...
- the_duke 10y ago
  So Google paid Lewandowski a bonus to steal their own IP, launch a company and sell it for a large amount to Uber so they could destroy Uber with a huge lawsuit? Makes sense! (cough)
beamatronic 10y ago
What is the illegal part of this? This happens all the time in the Valley. Did they actually steal source code?
- ry_ry 10y ago
  That certainly seems to be the implication of the original article. I guess it's up to the legal process to decide if he did or not.
- hwillis 10y ago
  They did- lidar and other designs, and this is saying that rather than it only being Levandowski's fault, Kalanick knew what was happening from the beginning and Uber was essentially using Otto as a shell company. This is stated clearly in the third paragraph of the article. >the subtext of Alphabet’s filing is an even bigger bombshell. Reading between the lines, (in my opinion) Alphabet is implying that Mr Levandowski arranged with Uber to: >Steal LiDAR and other self-driving component designs from Waymo >Start Otto as a plausible corporate vehicle for developing the self-driving technology >Acquire Otto for $680 million
  - ktRolster 10y ago
    Whether or not Google can prove in court that Uber knew of the theft will determine whether Uber is hurt a little or a lot by this.
- ufmace 10y ago
  The allegation is that he stole ~10GB of mechanical and electrical drawings for various essential parts, including the custom LIDAR. They claim to have forensic logs of his laptop of him downloading them and copying them to a memory card
  - joering2 10y ago
    > They claim to have forensic logs of his laptop of him downloading them and copying them to a memory card Sounds like a farytale to me, unless those logs are captures and stored independently then otherwise anyone can claim having any kind of evidence against anyone involved. Besides, there might be many reasons of him doing that, let the backup be one.

transfire 10y ago

But how do we know Google wasn't the one making that plan? I find it strange that Google paid Levandowski millions in bonuses after he quit abruptly and after they already knew he was starting a company with their IP.

mattmanser 10y ago
The bonuses could have been historically earned?
- cvoss 10y ago
  Via a recent Bloomberg article [0], the (pre-Waymo) car project had an "unorthodox compensation system" resulting in "multi-million dollar payouts" that were somehow tied to the success/value of the project. A fascinating and weird way to incentivize hard work. [0] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-13/one-reason-staffers-quit-google-s-car-project-the-company-paid-them-so-much https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-13/one-reaso...
the_duke 10y ago
So Google paid Lewandowski a bonus to steal their own IP, launch a company and sell it for a large amount to Uber so they could destroy Uber with a huge lawsuit? Makes sense! (cough)

beamatronic 10y ago

What is the illegal part of this? This happens all the time in the Valley. Did they actually steal source code?

ry_ry 10y ago
That certainly seems to be the implication of the original article. I guess it's up to the legal process to decide if he did or not.
hwillis 10y ago
They did- lidar and other designs, and this is saying that rather than it only being Levandowski's fault, Kalanick knew what was happening from the beginning and Uber was essentially using Otto as a shell company. This is stated clearly in the third paragraph of the article. >the subtext of Alphabet’s filing is an even bigger bombshell. Reading between the lines, (in my opinion) Alphabet is implying that Mr Levandowski arranged with Uber to: >Steal LiDAR and other self-driving component designs from Waymo >Start Otto as a plausible corporate vehicle for developing the self-driving technology >Acquire Otto for $680 million
- ktRolster 10y ago
  Whether or not Google can prove in court that Uber knew of the theft will determine whether Uber is hurt a little or a lot by this.
ufmace 10y ago
The allegation is that he stole ~10GB of mechanical and electrical drawings for various essential parts, including the custom LIDAR. They claim to have forensic logs of his laptop of him downloading them and copying them to a memory card
- joering2 10y ago
  > They claim to have forensic logs of his laptop of him downloading them and copying them to a memory card Sounds like a farytale to me, unless those logs are captures and stored independently then otherwise anyone can claim having any kind of evidence against anyone involved. Besides, there might be many reasons of him doing that, let the backup be one.