Live data from Hacker News

Uber’s Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight

techcrunch.com

71–80 of 224 posts

Re: Uber’s Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight

#71
post #52

Anthony is overrated and a complete psychopath. He doesn't understand it's basic right from wrong. In his mind IP is boundless and his, not Googles. This comes from 5 years of working in fairly close contact. Zero morals. He is what's wrong with Silicon Valley - on equal grounds to Travis from Uber. I can completely see this all being planned for years just like circumventing the iPhone App Store rules. As a Google s…

> Anthony is overrated

Maybe. He did this. http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah.... At least that's what Google tells me :). Given your history with him, do you know how much of this is true?

> and a complete psychopath

Whoa.. When you say psychopath, I'm translating that to 'ruthless without any morals.' Can you give any examples without giving away other people's personal details?

> As a Google shareholder

Waymo is suing Uber. Not Google. I don't think Google shareholders can vote their shares in other Alphabet companies.

Re: Uber’s Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight

#72
post #52

Anthony is overrated and a complete psychopath. He doesn't understand it's basic right from wrong. In his mind IP is boundless and his, not Googles. This comes from 5 years of working in fairly close contact. Zero morals. He is what's wrong with Silicon Valley - on equal grounds to Travis from Uber. I can completely see this all being planned for years just like circumventing the iPhone App Store rules. As a Google s…

But he must be good. $120M+ in compensation.

> is what's wrong with Silicon Valley

this.

Re: Uber’s Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight

#73
post #52

Anthony is overrated and a complete psychopath. He doesn't understand it's basic right from wrong. In his mind IP is boundless and his, not Googles. This comes from 5 years of working in fairly close contact. Zero morals. He is what's wrong with Silicon Valley - on equal grounds to Travis from Uber. I can completely see this all being planned for years just like circumventing the iPhone App Store rules. As a Google s…

> Anthony is overrated Maybe. He did this. http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah... . At least that's what Google tells me :). Given your history with him, do you know how much of this is true? > and a complete psychopath Whoa.. When you say psychopath, I'm translating that to 'ruthless without any morals.' Can you give any examples without giving away other people's personal details? > As a Go…

GOOG and GOOGL are now shares in Alphabet. [1]

We're all GOOG shareholders if we have a 401(k) with a large-cap index fund. As a GOOG shareholder, I want an Android phone that doesn't run out of battery after 8 hours of typical use, but I'm probably not gonna get it.

1. https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/GOOG?p=^GOOG

Re: Uber’s Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight

#74
post #52

Anthony is overrated and a complete psychopath. He doesn't understand it's basic right from wrong. In his mind IP is boundless and his, not Googles. This comes from 5 years of working in fairly close contact. Zero morals. He is what's wrong with Silicon Valley - on equal grounds to Travis from Uber. I can completely see this all being planned for years just like circumventing the iPhone App Store rules. As a Google s…

> Anthony is overrated Maybe. He did this. http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah... . At least that's what Google tells me :). Given your history with him, do you know how much of this is true? > and a complete psychopath Whoa.. When you say psychopath, I'm translating that to 'ruthless without any morals.' Can you give any examples without giving away other people's personal details? > As a Go…

[deleted]

Re: Uber’s Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight

#75
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That depends on the jury (and therefore the jurisdiction) actually. There have been several times when I made this argument in favor of removing some employee who was actively working to destroy a team and was made to jump through lots of hoops by corporate lawyers fearful of lawsuits.

Well, they would have to convince a jury that they were actually fired for one of the protected reasons. Often times lawyers will want you to document the reasons you are firing someone so that you can use them as a defense against a lawsuit claiming you fired them for a protected reason.

Right, but that process gives the lie to "at will" employment.

Re: Uber’s Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight

#76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm all for engineers getting paid, but in this case the guy didn't even have to do what most wealthy engineers do: deliver an actual successful product to market. Anthony's efforts led to Streetview and Maps improvements. Waymo is still using his LIDAR research. I think Anthony is totally screwed with this lawsuit, but I wouldn't belittle his engineering accomplishments.

Oh, I'm not. But I don't think the other Maps engineers took home $100 Million. Google clearly thought it was in their best interest, but I stand by what I said: As an engineer, the most well beaten path to wealth is building something that sells. To get paid and not even have to do that is itself something of an accomplishment, though not one I'd be very proud of.

According to The Verge article on Levandowski, that is why he left GoogleX/Waymo: they wouldn't ship. And he was too outspoken to be in charge of Google X self-driving.

Re: Uber’s Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight

#77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber could really play that to their advantage: "Your Honor, Google is just trying to soften us up because they don't get their way in the boardroom..." Having two roles in a lawsuit is a very dangerous thing, no matter how much their ex employee is at fault here they could easily make a lot of smoke out of that.

How does that actually play out? Google Ventures and Google's self-driving car were both "Google" when that investment was made, but now Waymo and GV are ostensibly separate entities. Is Alphabet suing Uber, or is Waymo suing Uber?

Waymo is a wholly-owned subsidiary; there's not going to be much distinction here. Not that I agree with the parent poster: the equity ownership is unlikely to be relevant to the case. People have successfully sued their own corporations and other bizarre legal actions.

Re: Uber’s Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight

#78
post #52

Anthony is overrated and a complete psychopath. He doesn't understand it's basic right from wrong. In his mind IP is boundless and his, not Googles. This comes from 5 years of working in fairly close contact. Zero morals. He is what's wrong with Silicon Valley - on equal grounds to Travis from Uber. I can completely see this all being planned for years just like circumventing the iPhone App Store rules. As a Google s…

Do you really think he should be in prison for intellectual property infringement?

Re: Uber’s Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

he'll work for them _officially_. >Levandowski will remain at Uber, despite his role change

That's precisely what I meant. He's supposedly working in a completely unrelated position; what's to stop him from helping out on LIDAR stuff?

i heard he'll be working on a new self-driving car initiative called RADIL. not LIDAR at all.

Re: Uber’s Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight

#80
post #52

Anthony is overrated and a complete psychopath. He doesn't understand it's basic right from wrong. In his mind IP is boundless and his, not Googles. This comes from 5 years of working in fairly close contact. Zero morals. He is what's wrong with Silicon Valley - on equal grounds to Travis from Uber. I can completely see this all being planned for years just like circumventing the iPhone App Store rules. As a Google s…

> Anthony is overrated Maybe. He did this. http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah... . At least that's what Google tells me :). Given your history with him, do you know how much of this is true? > and a complete psychopath Whoa.. When you say psychopath, I'm translating that to 'ruthless without any morals.' Can you give any examples without giving away other people's personal details? > As a Go…

Here's an article with some more details on him from 2013.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/11/25/auto-correct

Post reply on HN