Uber, Waymo End Self-Driving Tech Legal Battle With $245M Deal

Uber has reached a settlement with Alphabet's Waymo in their legal battle over self-driving trade secrets. As part of the deal, Waymo will get a 0.34 percent stake in Uber worth about $245 million.

Waymo accused Uber of lifting its trade secrets, but now, amidst a very public court battle, both firms have agreed "to ensure that any Waymo confidential information is not being incorporated in Uber Advanced Technologies Group hardware and software," Waymo tells CNBC.

In a blog post, Uber's new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said no trade secrets are believed to have made their way from Waymo to Uber. Nor is any Uber system using Waymo's self-driving tech. Nevertheless, "we are taking steps with Waymo to ensure our Lidar and software represents just our good work," he wrote in his post.

Uber allegedly stole the trade secrets by acquiring self-driving start-up Otto, which was led by former Waymo employee Anthony Levandowski. Waymo accused Levandwoski of lifting a 9.7GB trove of confidential files from his former employer before starting his new company.

Uber denied the accusations, but the legal battle threatened to sink the company's own self-driving project. Waymo wanted the court to suspend Uber's autonomous vehicle research until the case was settled, and reportedly sought at least $1 billion in damages from Uber, along with a public apology. Uber fired Levandowski in May 2017.

On Friday, Uber's CEO didn't exactly apologize, but he struck a conciliatory tone in his blog post and brought up the fact that Waymo's parent company, Alphabet, was an early investor in Uber.

"To our friends at Alphabet: we are partners, you are an important investor in Uber, and we share a deep belief in the power of technology to change people's lives for the better," Khosrowshahi wrote. "Of course, we are also competitors. And while we won't agree on everything going forward, we agree that Uber's acquisition of Otto could and should have been handled differently."

The settlement removes a major headache for Uber's new CEO, who took on the role in August.

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

My Experience

I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.

Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

The Best Tech I've Had:

My first video game console: a Nintendo Famicom
I loved my Sega Saturn despite PlayStation's popularity.
The iPod Video I received as a gift in college
Xbox 360 FTW
The Galaxy Nexus was the first smartphone I was proud to own.
The PC desktop I built in 2013, which still works to this day.

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