It’s finally been revealed how much Google has spent on developing self-driving cars: at least $1.1 billion.
The number – kept secret until now – emerged after Google failed to redact it from a deposition given for the case against Uber by Shawn Bananzadeh, a financial analyst at the firm’s autonomous sister company Waymo.
The autonomous investment rings close to that by GE, who’s poured $1 billion into Cruise Automation.
According to IEEE Specrtum, every number Bananzadeh gave during the deposition was redacted to protect Waymo’s confidential commercial information, except for the most important one – the grand total.
‘The calculation that was the basis of the $1.1 billion cost estimate for Trade Secret 90 is the same calculation that was done for Trade Secret 2 and Trade Secret 25?’ one of Uber’s lawyers asked.
Bananzadeh replied: ‘My understanding is that it is a cost that captures the entire program spend from inception to the period of time where it stops.’
While he said that represents the total amount, it remains unclear if that also includes salaries and incentives in addition to research and development.
$1.1 seems like a large investment, but it’s not shocking considering what the firm is trying to accomplish.
Others have been known to spend more.
Intel, for example, paid $15 billion for Mobileye, an Israeli-based company developing vision-based advanced driver-assistance technology.
While Google has been trying to keep this number under wraps, it’s no surprise the firm failed to redact it, considering how many legal briefs are being filed for the lawsuit, which is set to go to trial in a few months.
Earlier this year Waymo sued Uber and its autonomous trucking subsidiary Otto, claiming over 14,000 documents relating to its self driving car sensors were stolen by a former executive.
‘Competition should be fueled by innovation in the labs and on the roads, not through unlawful actions,’ Waymo told Dailymail.com.
‘Given the strong evidence we have, we are asking the court step in to protect intellectual property developed by our engineers over thousands of hours and to prevent any use of that stolen IP.’
The court documents state: ‘Waymo further requests that Defendants be enjoined from making, using, selling, or offering to sell devices that infringe claims 1 or 13 of United States Patent No. 8,836,922 and claims 1 or 14 of U.S. Patent 9,285,464.’
‘Because Waymo’s remedy at law is inadequate, Waymo seeks, in addition to damages, temporary, preliminary, and permanent injunctive relief to recover and protect its confidential, proprietary, and trade secret information and to protect other legitimate business interests.’
Waymo has accused Uber and Otto, acquired by the ride services company in August, with stealing confidential information on Waymo’s Lidar sensor technology to help speed its own efforts in autonomous technology.
Experts say a win for Waymo could be ‘devastating’ for Ube
GOOGLE’S CARS BECOME WAYMO
Google turned its self-driving car division into a new company called Waymo, in December 2016.
And it revealed the vehicles it will use – specially developed Crysler minivans. The hybrid vehicles are expected to form part of Google’s ridesharing service, and are already being tested in California.
As we get fully self-driving cars ready for the road, we’ll need more types of vehicles to refine and test our advanced driving software,’ Waymo CEO Jon Krafcik wrote.
‘That’s why in May we teamed up with FCA to work on adding 100 self-driving Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans to Waymo’s fleet
SOURCE:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4889594/Google-s-spent-1-1-BILLION-self-driving-cars.html
