The Latest: Ex-Uber CEO saw Google founder as a ‘brother’

The Latest on the court fight between Google spin Waymo and ride-hailing service Uber (all times local):

10:15 a.m.

Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick says he regarded Google co-founder Larry Page as a “big brother” before the relationship between their two companies soured.

Kalanick spoke Wednesday during testimony in a trial pitting Uber’s ride-hailing service against Google’s self-driving car spinoff, Waymo.

When Google made a large investment in Uber in 2013, Kalanick said it seemed likely Uber would deploy Google’s robotic cars in its ride-hailing service.

But it later became apparent to Kalanick that Google intended to launch its own ride-hailing service.

Kalanick says that threat led Uber to buy a startup founded by a former Google engineer in 2016. That deal triggered Waymo’s allegations that Uber had stolen its trade secrets to help build its self-driving cars.

———

9:40 a.m.

Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick is back in a San Francisco courtroom to answer questions about discussions he had with an engineer who is accused of stealing Google’s self-driving car technology.

Wednesday is Kalanick’s second day of testimony in a trial centered on allegations that he conspired with former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski to rip off Google’s self-driving car project, while Uber was attempting build its own robotic vehicles.

Google’s project is now called Waymo.

A Waymo lawyer confronted Kalanick with several texts between the two in an attempt to prove they would go to extremes for a competitive edge.

In one text, Kalanick agreed with Levandowski’s comment that “second place is first loser.” Another text referenced a line from the movie “Wall Street” proclaiming that, “Greed is good.”

Sourse: abcnews.go.com