Uber Fires Levandowski Over Waymo Lawsuit

Rider-share provider Uber Technologies Inc. has fired Anthony Levandowski, who headed its autonomous vehicle program until stepping aside in April.

Levandowski has been at the center of a lawsuit against Uber by Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo self-driving-car development company. Waymo asserts that Levandowski stole 14,000 secret documents about its autonomous car technology last year. He then helped launch Otto, a company that developed a self-driving system for commercial trucks. Otto was acquired by Uber last August, and Levandowski joined the San Francisco-based company at the same time.

Waymo’s lawsuit says Uber ended using the stolen documents. Uber strongly denies that claim. Levandowski has refused to testify in the case, citing his Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate himself.

Uber’s general counsel warned him nearly two weeks ago that he might be fired if he failed to either deny he stole the Waymo documents or turn over the files.

The U.S. District Court judge handling the case said earlier this month there is “compelling” evidence that Levandowski stole the documents. But it says Waymo so far has failed to produce “smoking gun” evidence that Uber obtained or used the information.