Google’s Ex- Engineer Earned 120 Million Dollars for Self-Driving Car

Google’s Ex- Engineer Earned 120 Million Dollars for Self-Driving Car

Engineers are a talent that no technological company wants to lose to competitors or to freelancing. This is mainly because it is hard to find experts and talented individuals, especially in the self- driving vehicle projects. The technology being used is one that requires knowledge due to the complexities involved and Google’s ex-engineer knows it. It has been rumored that he recently earned 120 million dollars according to some of the legal filings witnessed on Monday.

The ex- engineer is said to be in the middle of a legal fight that is in reference to self -driving automobile technology. The 120 million dollar show the need for talent, expertise and professionalism and the high level of competition being experienced in the technological world. Competition for automobile experts in this type of technology can be described as intense.

Waymo

Waymo

It is the name that has replaced and describes the autonomous vehicle or car unit. It claims that there was a breach of contract between Waymo and Anthony Levandowski who was their former employee. They are accusing Anthony of recruiting from Waymo on behalf of a competing rival and a technological company Otto. All this is claimed to be done while the ex -employee management to receive a payment in form of incentives totaling to around 120 million dollars from Google. This can be described as a great scoop and a thumbs up given to the ex- engineer in the process.

Lawsuit

Anthony Levandowski current employers are none other than Uber technologies Inc. Uber and Waymo are now locking horns in a lawsuit and a legal battle between the two technological giants has ensued. Uber is making a play for a private arbitration and trying to persuade the court to grant it. However, Waymo was the one who filed the arbitration lawsuit against their Anthony Levandowski who was their ex- employee. The legal battle may take long especially due to its sensitive nature and the fact that it is two well-known and reputable technological entities that are fighting each other for the autonomous vehicle technology.

Lawsuit 2

Apart from assisting Otto gain access to the technologies used by Waymo to develop the autonomous vehicle, Google also says that Anthony Levandowski is responsible for leaking and helping two other rival and competing companies gain essential details in the development of laser-based sensor technologies. This according to Google violates and breaches his non-compete agreement signed with the technological company. Before beginning or starting work. The two rival companies i.e. Oddin and Tyto that were merged in 2014 February. However, it is apparent that Anthony Levandowski has been an employee for the Odin Wave technologies while he also engaged and worked for Google. In this, he was developing a competing technology for Google aimed at providing competition for Odin Wave in the previous year.

Lawsuit 2

Incentives

Google likes to take care of its people and personnel are not left behind. The self – driving car project was structured and designed in a way that it ensured incentives and compensation for robotics engineers. This is because they tend to work on futuristic projects and technologies aimed at changing the course of history or being history in themselves. However, this specific project started showing signs of becoming a huge or major trend in business. It indicated the signs of being the next important thing in the history of automobiles and changing the course of transportation and transportation services. The earlier members of the team in designing, structuring and commencing the project received huge payments.

Investigation

The irony of it is that Google carried out investigations on the merged companies that were run by Tyto Moniker. The team that carried out the investigation included Anthony Levandowski as a member. In the process, he never disclosed his role in the company, or what he did. Once the investigation was complete he did not come forward and by 2016 May, the Tyto Company had been coveted and taken over by Otto. It is apparent that Anthony Levandowski played a crucial role in the acquisition of the company by Otto.

Responses

Responses
Even with the legal filings left to the public to see and review the proceeding, the two technological companies offered no comments to any of the questions asked. When reached for comments, they both declined through their representatives. Anthony Levandowski was also reach for comment requests, which he neither declined nor commented on. His lack of response may be misconstrued, misjudged and a verdict offered by the public.

Also See: Self-driving Cars – Find Out More

Conclusion

It is clear that the self-driving vehicles require more experts and engineers. However, there are a few that are available for now and each technological company whether prominent or not are in need of one. It is apparent that competing entities will continue to feud and fight over employees, technologies and many other factors, which make them successful. Therefore, be assured that technological innovations will continue to be unveiled even with breach of contracts, selling of company’s state secrets and even with the signing of disclosure or non-disclosure agreements. Let’s wait and see what the next technological legal fight will be about in the near future.