Self-driving car trial shows Silicon Valley's sharp elbows; 'second place is first loser'

See how self-driving cars prepare for the real world inside a private testing facility owned by Google's autonomous car company, Waymo. Waymo CEO John Krafcik arrives at the Phillip Burton Federal Building and United States Courthouse for the start of the Waymo vs. Uber trial in San Francisco, California on February 05, 2018. SAN FRANCISCO -- A Silicon Valley courtroom drama that could determine a leader in the self-driving car race kicked off Monday, with lawyers for Uber and Alphabet-owned Waymo making their cases to rapt jurors and around 70 reporters. Armed with redacted executive emails and blunt talk, both sides seemed eager to finally lay out arguments after nearly a year of pre-trial motions before a judge who doesn't mince words -- including Monday's snipe about requests for preferential treatment for some witnesses "just because they're famous." Waymo, the name of what started as Google's self-driving car program, says Uber sensed it couldn't catch up to its program, which launched in 2009.