Uber’s ex-CEO: At first, Uber considered Google to be its “big brother”
SAN FRANCISCO-During his second day of testimony, Travis Kalanick, who co-founded Uber and served as its CEO until mid-2017, submitted to further questioning by Waymo's top lawyer, Charles Verhoeven. Kalanick responded briefly and curtly to Waymo's questions, but he gave much fuller answers when under cross-examination questioning from Uber.
Waymo pressed Kalanick, using various emails and text messages trying to paint the picture that he was trying to overtake Waymo at all costs while knowing that his own company faced an existential threat.
By contrast, Uber attempted to show that Kalanick didn't orchestrate the misappropriation of trade secrets in any way. When given the chance to explain more fully, Kalanick essentially said that in 2015, when he believed that Google was going ahead with its own rideshare service, Uber had to act. That, in turn, led the company to pursue autonomous driving much more quickly, which enraged Google co-founder Larry Page.
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