Waymo had originally sought a $1 billion settlement last year before the trial got underway, but Uber rejected that deal. Waymo has settled for 0.34 percent of Uber’s equity at the company’s $72 billion valuation, which is around $245 million.
Uber cannot use any of Waymo’s hardware or software trade secrets as one of the conditions of the settlement. That’s interesting, especially since the trade secrets at the heart of the case were all related to hardware. Judge Alsup had instructed Waymo to bring a separate lawsuit against Uber if it wished to block the company from using its software.
Uber plans to have a public IPO in 2019.
Uber’s CEO has issued an apology for stealing Waymo self-driving technology.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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