Uber, Waymo reach self-driving car settlement

Uber and Google sibling company Waymo have reached a settlement on a lawsuit stemming from a self-driving car technology dispute.

As a part of the agreement, Uber will not use Waymo technology in its automated vehicles and will pay Waymo 0.34 percent of Uber’s equity at a valuation of $72 billion for the company, which comes out to roughly $245 million.

Prior to the trial, Waymo had sought a settlement of more than $1 billion, which Uber rejected.

{mosads}The dispute stems from Uber’s hiring of former Waymo employee Anthony Levandowski. The ride-hailing firm brought Levandowski onboard after purchasing his automated truck startup, Otto.

Waymo alleged that Levandowski stole documents, including trade secrets, that he eventually brought with over to Uber.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi on Friday clarified his company’s stance on the settlement.

“To be clear, while we do not believe that any trade secrets made their way from Waymo to Uber, nor do we believe that Uber has used any of Waymo’s proprietary information in its self-driving technology, we are taking steps with Waymo to ensure our Lidar and software represents just our good work,” he said, referring to the Lidar technology that many self-driving car companies use to measure ranges.

Khosrowshahi expressed regret over how Uber’s Otto acquisition played out saying that it “could and should have been handled differently.”