Uber's Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight

[Recursion]

Source: Tech Crunch

Uber’s Anthony Levandowski, who founded Otto and then became head of Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) once Otto was acquired by the ride-sharing company, is stepping aside from his role as head of ATG. The move comes as Uber continues a legal fight with Waymo, which began as Waymo accused Levandowski of using trade secrets stolen during his time at the then-Google self-driving car project to create lidar tech used by Otto and then Uber in their own autonomous vehicle efforts.

Levandowski will remain at Uber, despite his role change, though an internal email to his team first reported by Business Insider and confirmed as genuine by TechCrunch reveals he won’t be working on “all LiDAR-related work and management” at the company, which includes basically anything related to lasers, the company says. The new head of ATG will be Eric Meyhofer, who joined Uber from Carnegie Robotics prior to Uber’s acquisition of Otto, and who is therefore not directly implicated in the legal drama surrounding the self-driving truck company. Meyhofer will report directly to Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.

The move comes less than a week before a court is set to decide whether to issue a preliminary injunction that could prevent Levandowski from working on Uber’s self-driving car unit, or even shut down Uber’s lidar development altogether. Levandowski removing himself from lidar development could be seen as a last-ditch effort to distance himself from the project in hopes that a judge will allow it to continue without his supervision.

Levandowski is accused of stealing more than 14,000 confidential documents related to Waymo’s lidar systems. A TechCrunch investigation revealed that he was questioned extensively about the arrangement of circuit boards in Uber’s lidar, and Waymo has accused him of stealing information regarding every generation of circuit board it’s ever developed.

Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/27/ubers-anthony-levandowki-out-as-advanced-technologies-lead-amid-legal-fight/

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He's not out of Uber, but out of their self-driving car spin-off.

[FrodosNewPet]

1. Uber's SDC project is nearly a farce

Their best bet is to let professionals at Ford, Volvo, and even Waymo do the heavy lifting on development, and buy the vehicles from companies who have over a century of experience in automotive engineering.

Nah. Can't let common sense get in the way of Travis Kalanick's ego.

[ToxMarz]

2. It's more about his company's valuation for an IPO

Than his ego. Their sky high valuation is based on being the first to market with self driving technology independent of their competition (and kicking those needy, pesky, costly drivers to the curb). Once everyone has access to self driving cars and no need for "employees", all they have to sell is an easily duplicated app.

[FrodosNewPet]

3. That is a good point

Unfortunately for Uber, going public requires a lot more disclosure than they seem to be willing to accept. They are not very big on transparency. That is the biggest reason they resisted registering for an SDC test permit in California: they would have to report every time the autonomous system disengages (which, according to reports out of Pittsburgh and Tempe, is an average of over once per mile).

They are losing literally billions per year, with no current clear path to profitability. If they take on more private equity, that will further dilute current owners' stake. But they are in NO hurry to deal with the SEC - even a nearly toothless Trump Administration version of it.
[hr]
Uber IPO uber-unlikely: CEO Kalanick

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/28/uber-ipo-uber-unlikely-ceo-kalanick.html

Geoff Cutmore | Patrick Allen | Tuesday, 29 Mar 2016 | 1:35 AM ET

Investors in Uber and staff hoping for a fast flotation from the world's biggest ride-hailing service will be disappointed, chief executive Travis Kalanick told CNBC.

In an interview set to sadden investment bankers across the globe, Kalanick told CNBC he does not expect his company to go public anytime soon.

"I'm going to make sure it happens as late as possible," said Kalanick who has raised around $10 billion dollars for the company ?over the last 18 months.

Kalanick also told CNBC that, thanks to this fundraising, he did not currently need public capital markets and wants to hold on to the flexibility offered by private funding.

~ snip ~

[FrodosNewPet]

4. Uber IPO: Losing Luster After a $1.2 Billion Loss

Uber IPO: Losing Luster After a $1.2 Billion Loss

One day, Uber will go public. Don't buy into the hype.

http://money.usnews.com/investing/articles/2016-08-29/uber-ipo-losing-luster-after-a-12-billion-loss

By John Divine | Staff Writer | Aug. 29, 2016

~ snip ~

Barry Randall, technology portfolio manager for Covestor, thinks investors are overly optimistic about what autonomous vehicles will mean for the bottom line.

"Uber hasn't blanched at the billions of dollars it loses because it believes its business model will work just fine when it cuts flesh-and-blood drivers out of the equation," he says. "Uber's immense valuation probably owes a lot to this assumption."

But Randall is skeptical that autonomous cars will bring cost reductions of the magnitude that investors expect.

After all, Uber itself – and not its do-it-all drivers – will have to buy the cars, pay for repairs and keep them clean. "Uber's leaders and investors have forgotten an important truism: There is no free ride," Randall cautions.

~ snip ~