(Self-driving) car wars heat up

David Drummond, one of Alphabet's most senior executives, announced that he was stepping down from Uber's board just as the ride-hailing company announced its intention to dive into self-driving cars - a longtime R&D project of Alphabet's Google. SAN FRANCISCO - If you need a sure sign that the race to develop self-driving cars is no longer just an interesting science project, David Drummond's departure from Uber's board is it. Drummond, an early employee of Alphabet who oversees corporate development and its investment arm, stepped down Monday after two years of board service at the ride-hailing giant. Prior to both companies confirming the departure, tech news site The Information reported that Drummond had been kept out of recent board meetings. Drummond is stepping down just a few weeks after Uber CEO Travis Kalanick announced that Uber was piloting a self-driving car service in Pittsburgh, and that the company had bought self-driving truck startup Otto, which was started by former employees of Google's seven-year-old self-driving car project. It's self-driving or bust for Uber CEO; the IPO can wait "I recently stepped down from Uber's board given the overlap between the two companies," Drummond, 53, said in a statement provided to USA TODAY by both Uber and Alphabet.