Anthony Levandowski

Anthony Levandowski
Born Anthony
March 15, 1980
Occupation Co-founder of Otto
Website ot.to
Anthony Levandowski in 2011

Anthony Levandowski (born March 15, 1980) is an American self-driving car engineer.[1] In 2016 he co-founded Otto, an autonomous trucking company, with Lior Ron, Claire Delaunay and Don Burnette.[2] Prior to Otto, he built the Google self-driving car while working as a co-founder and technical lead on the project, known as Waymo.[3] He is known for his work in the advancement of self-driving technology.[4]

On May 15, 2017, United States District Judge banned Levandowski from further work on Otto's Lidar technology on the basis of having breached the confidentiality of former employer Waymo.[5][6] On May 30th, 2017, Uber fired Levandowski for failing to cooperate with investigators.[7]

Early life and career

In 1998, Levandowski entered the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research.[8] As a freshman, he launched an intranet service from his basement.[3] In 2004 he and fellow UC Berkeley engineers built an autonomous motorcycle, nicknamed Ghostrider, for the DARPA Grand Challenge.[9] The Ghostrider motorcycle competed in the DARPA Grand Challenge in 2004 and 2005 and was the only autonomous two-wheeled vehicle in the competition.[10] The motorcycle now resides in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.[3]

Recent career

Levandowski (right) at MCE 2016

In 2007 Levandowski joined Google to work on Google Street View with Sebastian Thrun, whom he had met at the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge.[10] While still working at Google he founded 510 Systems, a mobile mapping start-up that experimented with Lidar technology.[10] Then in 2008 he founded Anthony's Robots to build a self-driving Toyota Prius called the "Pribot."[9] According to The Guardian, it was "a self-driving Toyota Prius with one of the first spinning Lidar laser ranging units, and the first ever to drive on public roads."[1]

While working at Google, Levandowski simultaneously established other companies as a side project.[11] His companies 510 Systems and Anthony's Robots were later bought into Google.[12]

Levandowski worked on Google's self-driving car until January, 2016 when he left to found Otto, a company that makes self-driving kits to retrofit big rig trucks.[13][14][15] Quoted in The New York Times, Levandowski said he left Google because he "was eager to commercialize a self-driving vehicle as quickly as possible".[16] Otto launched in May, 2016 and was acquired by Uber in late July, 2016.[17] As part of the acquisition Levandowski assumed leadership of Uber's driverless car operation in addition to his work at Otto.[18]

In September 2017, Wired magazine reported that Levandowski had established a religious organisation called 'Way of the Future' to “develop and promote the realization of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence.”[11]

In July 2018, it was reported that Levandowski started a new self-driving car company named Kache.ai.[19]

Lawsuit

According to a February 2017 lawsuit filed by Waymo, the autonomous vehicle research subsidiary of Alphabet Inc, Levandowski allegedly "downloaded 9.7 GB of Waymo’s highly confidential files and trade secrets, including blueprints, design files and testing documentation"[20][21] before resigning to found Otto.[22][23]

In March 2017, United States District Judge William Haskell Alsup, referred the case to federal prosecutors after Levandowski exercised his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.[24] In May 2017, Judge Alsup ordered Levandowski to refrain from working on Otto's Lidar and required Uber to disclose its discussions on the technology.[25] Levandowski was later fired by Uber for failing to cooperate in an internal investigation.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 "How a robot lover pioneered the driverless car, and why he's selling his latest to Uber". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  2. ↑ "Uber just bought this self-driving truck startup created by former Googlers - take a look inside its HQ". Business Insider. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 "Auto Correct". The New Yorker. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  4. ↑ "Google self-driving car vets take on automated trucks". CNN Money. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  5. ↑ Case 3:17-cv-00939-WHA Document 433 Filed 05/15/17 "By way of summary, this order finds plaintiff Waymo LLC has shown compelling evidence that its former star engineer, Anthony Levandowski, downloaded over 14,000 confidential files from Waymo immediately before leaving his employment there."
  6. ↑ Mullin, Joe (15 May 2017). "Judge's order bars Uber engineer from Lidar work, demands return of stolen files". arstechnica.com. Ars Technica. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  7. 1 2 Mullin, Joe (30 May 2017). "Uber engineer Levandowski, accused of massive theft from Google, has been fired". Ars Technica. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  8. ↑ "Spotlight on student entrepreneurs: At 22, Anthony Levandowski is already a veteran businessman". UC Berkeley News. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  9. 1 2 "Robotic Prius takes itself for a spin around SF". CNET. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  10. 1 2 3 "The Unknown Start-up That Built Google's First Self-Driving Car". IEEE Spectrum. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  11. 1 2 Harris, Mark. "The Self Driving Car Whiz Who Fell From Grace". Wired. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  12. ↑ "Uber to deploy self-driving cars in Pittsburgh". BBC. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  13. ↑ "Introducing Otto, the startup rethinking commercial trucking". Medium. Otto. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  14. ↑ Harris, Mark. "How Otto defied Nevada and scored a $680m payout from Uber". Wired. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  15. ↑ Harris, Mark. "How my public records request triggered Waymo's self-driving car lawsuit". Wired. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  16. ↑ "Want to Buy a Self-Driving Car? Big-Rig Trucks May Come First". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  17. ↑ "Uber acquires Otto to lead Uber's self-driving car effort". TechCrunch. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  18. ↑ "Uber's First Self-Driving Fleet Arrives in Pittsburgh This Month". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  19. ↑ "Anthony Levandowski is back with a new self-driving startup, called Kache.ai". TechCrunch. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  20. ↑ "A note on our lawsuit against Otto and Uber". Medium. 2017-02-23. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
  21. ↑ "Alphabet's Waymo Alleges Uber Stole Self-Driving Secrets". Bloomberg.com. 2017-02-23. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
  22. ↑ Chafkin, Max; Bergen, Mark (16 March 2017). "Did Uber Steal the Driverless Future From Google?". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  23. ↑ Isaac, Mike (18 May 2017). "How Uber and Waymo Ended Up Rivals in the Race for Driverless Cars". The New York Times. p. A1. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  24. ↑ Wakabayashi, Daisuke; Isaac, Mike (31 March 2017). "Uber Executive Invokes Fifth Amendment, Seeking to Avoid Potential Charges". The New York Times. p. B5. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  25. ↑ Isaac, Mike (16 May 2017). "Uber Engineer Barred From Work on Key Self-Driving Technology, Judge Says". The New York Times. p. B1. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
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