Ex-Google self-driving engineer secretly collaborated with competitors, suit says

A former Google employee secretly collaborated with competing self-driving car companies for years before allegedly stealing trade secrets and bringing the proprietary technology to Uber, according to a new court filing. Anthony Levandowski – now head of Uber's self-driving program and a key player in Google's high-profile intellectual property lawsuit against Uber – collected $120m in "incentive payments" from Google, according to the claim, "all while he was breaching his obligations to Google and building a company that would compete with Google". The filing also alleges that while at Google, he helped the company investigate one of two competing firms with which he was involved. The filing provides new details about Google's case against Levandowski, suggesting that his alleged plot to steal trade secrets involved his clandestine association with the side companies dating back to 2012. The claims have come to light a week after Levandowski invoked his fifth amendment right, with his lawyers stating in court that there is "potential for criminal action".