Uber calls claims it stole self-driving technology 'demonstrably false'

Uber has begun to mount its defense against allegations that the ride-hailing company is using technology stolen from Waymo, the self-driving car company spun out of Google. Uber claimed in a federal court filing Friday that it began developing its own self-driving technology in 2015, before it acquired Otto, a self-driving trucking startup founded by several former Google employees. The filing, which opposes a Waymo motion for a preliminary injunction against Uber, contains Uber's most detailed defense to date since Waymo accused it of the "calculated theft" of its LiDAR technology in February. "Both of [Waymo's] central premises – that former Waymo employees brought thousands of confidential Waymo documents to Uber to build a copycat LiDAR and that Uber's LiDAR closely mimics Waymo's single-lens design – are demonstrably false," the filing states. "A cursory inspection of Uber's LiDAR and Waymo's allegations fall like a house of cards."