SAN FRANCISCO — After nearly a year of legal wrangling, dramatic last-minute delays and uncooperative witnesses, a jury will soon hear arguments in Waymo’s high-profile lawsuit accusing Uber of stealing driverless car technology.

The trial, which is scheduled to start with jury selection on Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco, pits Waymo, a spinoff of Google and one of the most successful companies from the dot-com boom, against Uber, the ride-hailing giant and today’s most valuable start-up. At stake is a leading role in the intense competition among tech and auto companies to create autonomous vehicles.

The dispute hinges on the actions of a former star engineer at Google who started his own company and then sold it to Uber within a year. Did he steal thousands of Google computer files as he headed out the door and bring those files with him to Uber?

The courtroom fight will most likely prompt a philosophical discussion over the entrepreneurial — some would say outlaw — spirit that has long made Silicon Valley tick. Should an engineer be free to leave a company and build on the knowledge and skills he gained at the old job? Are the tech industry’s giants too eager to use lawyers to cudgel competition? And are start-ups like Uber too willing to cut corners as they scramble to turn a profit?