Judge delays trial after ex-Uber employee describes rogue behavior

Enlarge (credit: Waymo)

SAN FRANCISCO-US District Judge William Alsup has delayed an upcoming trial, Waymo v. Uber, in which Alphabet's self-driving car division has accused Uber of massive data theft.

The postponement came as a former Uber security employee, Richard Jacobs, made startling accusations in court Tuesday about his former colleagues' tactics of what he dubbed "overly aggressive and invasive" actions, including seeking code accidentally made available on GitHub and internal use of "ephemeral and encrypted" communications including through Wickr and "non-attributable machines."

The case began back in February, when Waymo sued Uber and accused one of its own former employees, Anthony Levandowski, of stealing 14,000 files shortly before he left Waymo and went on to found a company that was quickly acquired by Uber. The case will likely have a huge impact on the future of autonomous vehicles and who will emerge dominant in the field.

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