Uber vs Waymo battle: Uber may continue self-driving work but Levandowski barred from LiDAR

A federal judge has ruled in the matter of a preliminary injunction against Uber saying that former Google employee and Otto founder Anthony Levandowski can no longer work on any projects that involve LiDAR technology. The ride-hailing company can, however, continue its autonomous driving development work in general.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco also said that Uber must promptly return stolen confidential files to Waymo. "The bottom line is the evidence indicates that Uber hired Levandowski even though it knew or should have known that he possessed over 14,000 confidential Waymo files likely containing Waymo's intellectual property," Alsup wrote.

Alsup said Waymo "has shown compelling evidence that its former star engineer" downloaded the documents from Waymo's computers before leaving the company.

The ruling also states that Waymo can “inspect any and all aspects of defendants’ ongoing work involving LiDAR – including, without limitation, schematics, work orders, source code, notes and emails – whether or not said work resulted in any prototype or device” which sounds like pretty broad license.

Waymo filed a lawsuit against Uber in February alleging that parts of Uber’s autonomous driving technology, specifically LiDAR, infringe on patents held by Waymo. According to Waymo, Otto founder Anthony Levandowski stole 14,000 documents related to trade secrets before leaving to start Otto.

Uber, on its part, has argued that Levandowski had little to do with LiDAR development at Uber and that its designs were independently developed without any reliance on Waymo’s technology. Uber has said its current LiDAR system, codenamed Fuji, is unique because it uses a multi-lens design (as opposed to Waymo’s Grizzly Bear 3, or GrB3, which uses a single lens). Waymo has instead highlighted similarities between its circuit boards and Uber’s.

Last week, Alsup referred the case to the U.S. Department of Justice for investigation of possible trade secret theft. He also ruled against Uber's private arbitration request that would have kept much of the case out of the public eye.