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PJ Vogt

πŸ‘€ Speaker
15497 total appearances
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Podcast Appearances

Freakonomics Radio
Are Human Drivers Finally Obsolete?

And so Uber had plunged headlong into the driverless car race.

Freakonomics Radio
Are Human Drivers Finally Obsolete?

The company hired nearly half of Carnegie Mellon's top robotics lab.

Freakonomics Radio
Are Human Drivers Finally Obsolete?

And not long after, we also know through court records and emails that Uber also began communicating with Anthony Lewandowski, who in 2016 would leave Google, quitting just before he could be fired for recruiting team members away, including Don Burnett.

Freakonomics Radio
Are Human Drivers Finally Obsolete?

Anthony would then start his own autonomous vehicle company.

Freakonomics Radio
Are Human Drivers Finally Obsolete?

Uber would soon buy that company for almost $700 million, even though the company had no product and was only months old, which raised a mystery.

Freakonomics Radio
Are Human Drivers Finally Obsolete?

Why would Uber pay so much for a company whose only asset seemed to be its people?

Freakonomics Radio
Are Human Drivers Finally Obsolete?

This is where Google goes into its computer security logs and realizes that not long before he left, Anthony Lewandowski downloaded something like 14,000 technical files onto his computer and moved them onto an external disk.

Freakonomics Radio
Are Human Drivers Finally Obsolete?

Obviously you can't do that.

Freakonomics Radio
Are Human Drivers Finally Obsolete?

I mean, I'm assuming obviously you can't do that.

Freakonomics Radio
Are Human Drivers Finally Obsolete?

No, you definitely cannot do that.

Freakonomics Radio
Are Human Drivers Finally Obsolete?

And this is the kind of thing that maybe if he had stayed there, this is the kind of thing Anthony would have done, and he would have been like, oh, it's just so I could have access to it somewhere else, and he probably would have gotten away with it.

Freakonomics Radio
Are Human Drivers Finally Obsolete?

But when you then go and work for Uber and start running their direct competitor self-driving car program, that's when you get in trouble.

Freakonomics Radio
Are Human Drivers Finally Obsolete?

And that's when what's technically called Waymo at this point, Google's program, sues Uber.

Freakonomics Radio
Are Human Drivers Finally Obsolete?

Specifically, it involves a former lead engineer of Google's self-driving car unit, Anthony Lewandowski.

Freakonomics Radio
Are Human Drivers Finally Obsolete?

Now, he's accused of using his personal laptop and downloading more than 14,000 files.

Freakonomics Radio
Are Human Drivers Finally Obsolete?

In 2016, Google had just spun its driverless car unit into a new entity, Waymo.

Freakonomics Radio
Are Human Drivers Finally Obsolete?

Waymo sued Uber.

Freakonomics Radio
Are Human Drivers Finally Obsolete?

Uber had to settle to the tune of $245 million.

Freakonomics Radio
Are Human Drivers Finally Obsolete?

And in a separate criminal trial, Anthony Lewandowski pled guilty to stealing trade secrets.

Freakonomics Radio
Are Human Drivers Finally Obsolete?

Afterwards, Uber continues their driverless car program without him, continuing to pursue its move fast, break things strategy, which in 2018 leads to the death of a woman named Elaine Hertzberg.