Uber Waymo Lawsuit: Court Filing Reveals Travis Kalanick Knew Fired Engineer Had Google Information

Alphabet’s self-driving unit Waymo said ousted Uber CEO Travis Kalanick knew the company’s engineer had Google information, lawsuit documents uploaded by TechCrunch show.

Waymo sued Uber earlier this year claiming the startup benefited from stolen self-driving car technology from the Alphabet company. Legal action was taken after Google employees Anthony Levandowski and Lior Ron quit to start their own self-driving vehicle company, Otto. Uber bought Otto three months after it launched for $680 million in August 2016. Waymo claims both engineers stole autonomous technology secrets before they departed the company.

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In the recently revealed documents, Waymo said Uber knew Levandowski had Google information as of last March, before it acquired Otto.

“On or about March 11, 2016, Mr. Levandowski reported to Mr. Kalanick, Nina Qi and Cameron Poetzscher at Uber as well as Lior Ron that he had identified five discs in his possession containing Google information,” the court documents revealed.

The filing then went on to say:

“Mr.Kalanick conveyed to Mr. Levandowski in response that Mr. Levandowski should not bring any Google information into Uber, and that Uber did not want any Google information. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Levandowski communicated to Uber that he had destroyed the discs.”

The admission would strengthen Waymo’s argument in the case. The filing also shows a timeline of events surrounding Levandowski, which links Uber to his actions regarding the stolen information.

Uber recently fired Levandowski, who was leading the company’s autonomous car venture, because he declined to cooperate with the lawsuit. The ride-hailing startup had previously asked Lewandowski in a letter to do his part with the investigation. Uber then asked him to confirm if he did or didn’t steal documents from Google, and requested him to return any remaining records he had. Lewandowski declined to do so.

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This week, Kalanick stepped down from his position as Uber CEO after pressure from investors. The move comes after Kalanick said last week he would take a leave of absence. Kalanick’s resignation comes after the end of an internal investigation into the company led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. The investigation was launched after a former employee wrote a blog post detailing her sexual harassment experience at Uber.

Besides sexual allegations and its dispute with Waymo, Uber was hit by other numerous scandals this year. In February, the New York Times released an article shedding light into Uber’s work culture. The report detailed instances of cocaine use, homophobic verbal abuse and harassment at the company.

Uber was also under pressure after a video surfaced of Kalanick arguing with a driver surfaced. The company was criticized for using its Greyball tool, which collected data to evade authorities and operate its services illegally and was affected by the #deleteUber campaign earlier this year.