Uber Technologies Inc., already plagued by a string of scandals, now faces the threat of a federal criminal probe into its development of driverless cars, a crucial initiative for the highflying ride-hailing business.

A new shadow of uncertainty was cast over the autonomous-vehicle program when a federal judge this week recommended the U.S. investigate the possibility that Uber and a top executive stole from Google parent Alphabet Inc. 14,000 files, many related to a laser sensor technology used in driverless cars.

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