Uber email: Hiring ex-Google star could save a year on robot cars

FILE- In this Dec. 13, 2016, file photo, Anthony Levandowski, head of Uber's self-driving program, speaks about their driverless car in San Francisco. Levandowski, an autonomous vehicle expert who defected from Google last year, notified Uber�s staff of that he is stepping aside Thursday, April 27, 2017, in an email. He will remain at Uber, but won�t oversee a crucial self-driving project targeted in lawsuit filed by Waymo, a rival started by Google. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File) less FILE- In this Dec. 13, 2016, file photo, Anthony Levandowski, head of Uber's self-driving program, speaks about their driverless car in San Francisco. Levandowski, an autonomous vehicle expert who defected from ... more Photo: Eric Risberg, Associated Press Photo: Eric Risberg, Associated Press Image 1 of / 47 Caption Close Uber email: Hiring ex-Google star could save a year on robot cars 1 / 47 Back to Gallery

Hiring former Google star engineer Anthony Levandowski and his team had the potential to save Uber “at least a year” in the race to develop self-driving cars, according to an internal Uber email unsealed in court Thursday in the high-profile lawsuit between the companies.

Google’s self-driving-car unit, which was renamed Waymo after Levandowski left, argues that Levandowski stole its proprietary design for lidar, a laser-based sensor that allows cars to see the environment around them. The January 2016 email from the man then in charge of Uber’s self-driving program in Pittsburgh singled out the lidar that Levandowski and his associates at Google had created.

“Anthony and his close team have developed several generations of mid- and long-range laser that we now believe is critical to AV autonomy (day and night),” wrote John Bares in the email, which a Waymo attorney read into the record on instructions from the judge. “Not only do they have several generations of experience but also know how to improve on the next-gen devices that they would build for us. We have yet to find anyone else in the world with this know-how.”

While Waymo’s attorneys are trying to prove that the ride-hailing company has been using purloined lidar technology, an Uber attorney at Thursday’s case-management hearing argued that the email showed only that Levandowski and his colleagues had skills Uber wanted to tap. Uber insists that its lidar designs are its own and that Levandowski was under explicit instructions not to bring any intellectual property with him from Google.

The email “explains why you would want to hire Anthony Levandowski,” said attorney Karen Dunn. “You’re allowed to bring your know-how. ... If this is the best evidence they have of trade-secret theft, I say, ‘Great.’”

Waymo initiated the suit in February, claiming that Levandowski downloaded thousands of internal Google documents before he left in January 2016 to found Otto, which specializes in self-driving trucks. Uber bought Otto eight months later and placed Levandowski in charge of its efforts to develop autonomous vehicles.

Levandowski has refused to testify in the suit, citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Uber fired him in May for refusing to cooperate with its investigation of the lawsuit allegations. A jury trial in the suit is scheduled to begin in October.

Levandowski had been considered close to Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick, who stepped down as CEO this month in the face of several scandals swirling around the San Francisco company. At Thursday’s hearing, Uber’s lawyers seemed eager to distance the company from Levandowski, saying Waymo’s real complaints lay with him.

“Their case is about Mr. Levandowski, what they allege he stole, and the fact that he invoked the Fifth,” Dunn told Judge William Alsup of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. “As to Uber, they have nothing.”

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Dunn and her colleagues, in a court filing Wednesday, said that in March 2016 — before Uber acquired Otto — Levandowski told one of his Otto colleagues that he had found five discs of Google information in his home, left over from when he had worked at Google. According to the filing, Levandowski also told several Uber executives, including Kalanick, and Kalanick told him not to bring any information from Google to Uber. Levandowski later told several people that he had destroyed the discs, according to the filing.

The same court filing also suggested another reason for why Levandowski might have downloaded confidential Google documents. He could have been trying to gain leverage to ensure that the company paid him an overdue, $120 million bonus, the filing said.

Waymo attorneys on Thursday called that idea ridiculous and said Levandowski had downloaded many of the files on days when he had meetings with Uber executives, including Kalanick.

“They’re trying to put all that away by coming up with this brand-new theory that Mr. Levandowski downloaded the files to use as ransom against Google to get the rest of his payments that were scheduled over time,” said attorney Charles Verhoeven. “There’s absolutely no evidence. They’ve never disclosed it before. It’s silly.”

Dunn countered that it made sense for an employee who was thinking of leaving his job to be concerned about not receiving so large a bonus.

David R. Baker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dbaker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DavidBakerSF