Uber Faces Allegations of Espionage

(Newswire.net — November 29, 2017) Redondo Beach, CA — Uber, the beleaguered, but hugely profitable company, is facing new allegations of corporate espionage.

Federal prosecutors are looking into allegations that the wildly successful ride sharing company established a covert department to spy on and use proprietary technology from its future rivals. The alleged theft is not directed to their current operations. Neither the taxi industry nor #2 ride sharing company, lyft, are not part of this recent development. Rather, the company is under investigation for allegedly stealing self-driving car technology from Waymo.

Waymo is a self-driving car pioneer that launched eight years ago and is a currently a subsidiary of Google.

The allegations only caught the ear of the U.S. Justice Department during a court hearing pitting Waymo against Uber. The hearing escalated into a heated discussion involving corporate espionage and the theft of trade secrets. According to the LA Times, a former Uber manager testified that Uber had, “Set up a secret unit to steal trade secrets from its rivals overseas.” 

This is not the first time Uber has been involved in a potentially embarrassing situation. Between sexual harassment charges or a cover up of a hacking attack that affected over 600,000 drivers, the company rapid growth often feels like there is no one in charge as they continue to face challenges of public perception and leadership.

When it comes to leadership, C-level executives may consider looking inside themselves instead of pointing fingers at others.

Integrity and corporate culture is certainly a hot topic for today’s boardrooms. Uber may learn from consultants like best selling author, Ron Ario, “For an executive to build a company of integrity, they first need to be prepared internally for their next level of change and personal transformation. They may or may not be familiar with ascension, but without it, they are doomed to repeating the same mistakes like Uber may be making.”

Ario continued, “A corporate leader’s initial motivation may be to fix the corporate culture and climate of their company, but on a deeper level, many are seeking to rectify a deep lack of fulfillment.”

While Uber and their attorneys navigate this new development, The allegations prompted U.S. District judge, William Alsup to delay the trial between Uber and Waymo so Waymo can gather more evidence. Waymo’s allegations hope to prove Uber has been building it’s self-driving car technology using trade secrets taken by former Waymo engineer Anthony Levandowski. 

The conflict and details of proprietary information may become muddled as Uber paid $680 million last year to buy a self-driving vehicle startup founded by Levandowski after he left Waymo.

As Ario states in his book, Journey To Awakening, “Because most CEO’s have had to fight to get where they are, most do not care to change. Many have sacrificed and risked their personal happiness, as well as enduring broken families and relationships, thinking they would be really happy once they reached the pinnacle of success–but most are not. They have no clue as to how they arrived at this point, nor do they know how to solve the problem. Personal transformation is the solution.”

Perhaps this is a solution not only for CEO’s but for all of us.