Friday, February 9, 2018

"Uber and Waymo sitting in a tree, S-E-T-T-L-I-N-G"

From the Register:

Bitter legal brouhaha ends with smiles... from Uber, anyway
Uber and Google-owned self-driving car biz Waymo have reached a settlement in the infamous lawsuit between the two.
The case is reportedly being dismissed with prejudice, according to local reporters in the San Francisco court where the case is being heard. That means the case cannot be reopened later on if one side changes its mind.
Uber chief exec Dara Khosrowshahi issued a public statement, saying:
I want to express regret for the actions that have caused me to write this letter.

To our friends at Alphabet: we are partners, you are an important investor in Uber, and we share a deep belief in the power of technology to change people's lives for the better. Of course, we are also competitors. And while we won't agree on everything going forward, we agree that Uber's acquisition of Otto could and should have been handled differently...

The prospect that a couple of Waymo employees may have inappropriately solicited others to join Otto, and that they may have potentially left with Google files in their possession, in retrospect, raised some hard questions....
...MORE