Court rules that Waymo can keep its robotaxi emergency protocols a secret

The California Superior Court in Sacramento has ruled in favor of Waymo, allowing the company to keep specific details about its autonomous vehicle technology a secret. Waymo won the case against the California Department of Motor Vehicles, which it sued back in January to prevent the agency from disclosing what it considers trade secrets that could give its competitors an edge. While the Alphabet company filed a lawsuit against the DMV, it was an unidentified party that made a public records request for its driverless technology that started it all. The DMV gave Waymo the chance to redact information it deems to be trade secrets from its driverless deployment application before handing the copy over to the requester. However, the third party challenged the blacked out sections, and the DMV had advised Waymo to seek an injunction if it wants to prohibit the disclosure of the redacted materials. The information Waymo wants to keep secret includes how it plans to handle emergencies, such as how it analyzes collisions involving its vehicles, and how its technology decides when to hand over control to a human driver.