Uber rejected a $500 million settlement from Waymo earlier this week: report

Also included harsher conditions related to autonomous vehicle development.

 

Waymo, the self-driving unit of Google parent Alphabet, proposed a settlement of $500 million to Uber earlier this week, but the ride-hailing company’s board of directors rejected the deal, according to a report from Reuters, which was confirmed by sources familiar with the case. On Friday, the two companies settled their acrimonious lawsuit over stolen self-driving car secrets. The price tag: a much more reasonable $245 million in Uber stock, and a promise not to use Waymo’s trade secrets in any of Uber’s autonomous technology.

The proposed settlement earlier this week also would have included much harsher conditions on Uber, most likely related to its research and development on autonomous vehicle hardware, according to a source familiar with the case. As part of today’s agreement, Uber cannot incorporate Waymo’s confidential information in the hardware and software produced by its Advanced Technologies Group.

According to another source, Uber came to Waymo last week with a $500 million offer, but no promises about hardware and software use, in the hopes of heading off the trial before it began. Waymo insisted on including provisions to prevent Uber from using any of its self-driving trade secrets. The negotiations proceeded from there, with the two sides ultimately reaching a conclusion today.

This wasn’t the first time Uber turned up its nose at a proposed settlement from Waymo. The Google spinoff had originally sought at least a $1 billion and a public apology from Uber last year before the trial got underway. Uber, which was still under Travis Kalanick’s leadership at the time, rejected the deal.