双语阅读｜Uber身陷“窃取”自动驾驶技术指控
PURLOINED documents, duplicitous employees and conflicted loyalties. The race to dominate the field of self-driving cars is in its early stages, but is already full of intrigue. On May 3rd a packed courtroom watched lawyers tussle during a hearing on a lawsuit that could affect the future of autonomous-vehicle technology.
窃取文件，员工诈骗，内外兼职。抢占无人驾驶汽车领域的主导权尚且处于初期阶段，却已然充斥了各种阴谋。3月1日，法庭内坐满了人，听着律师们在听证会上激烈争辩，这是一场可能会影响自动驾驶技术未来的诉讼案。
On one side is Waymo, the self-driving car unit owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet. It has accused Uber, a ride-hailing firm, of using stolen technology to develop its autonomous-driving capabilities. The origin of the dispute was a deal last summer when Uber spent $680m to buy Otto, a self-driving lorry firm. Anthony Levandowski, who had worked at Alphabet for ten years and played a big role in its self-driving efforts, had co-founded the startup, which was just seven months old when Uber bought it.
一方是谷歌母公司Alphabet旗下的自动驾驶汽车公司Waymo。它指控网约车公司Uber使用窃取来的技术开发自己的自动驾驶技术。这个争议源于去年夏天的一次收购交易——Uber以6.8亿美元的价格收购了自动驾驶卡车公司 Otto。安东尼·莱万多斯基（Anthony Levandowski）曾在Alphabet工作十年，在自动驾驶技术方面承担了重要角色。他参与创建的Otto公司在Uber收购时仅成立了七个月。
Before leaving Alphabet to start Otto, Waymo claims, Mr Levandowski illegally downloaded around 14,000 computer files that contained proprietary information about its lidar technology. Lidar uses lasers to scan a vehicle’s surroundings and is essential for many self-driving systems. Mr Levandowski has not directly addressed many of Waymo’s allegations. He has invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid making statements that could be self-incriminating. The government could choose to bring criminal charges in the months ahead, and Mr Levandowski has hired his own civil and criminal defence lawyers.
Waymo公司声称，莱万多斯基在离开Alphabet转而创立Otto之前，非法下载了约1.4万份电脑文件，其中包括激光探测与测量（Lidar）技术的专利信息。该技术使用激光探测车辆周围物体，是许多自动驾驶系统的关键部分。莱万多斯基没有直接应对Waymo的多项指控。他援引第五修正案，以避免发表可能会自证其罪的声明。美国政府可能会在数月之后决定提起刑事诉讼。莱万多斯基聘请了自己的民事和刑事辩护律师。
Uber, for its part, has firmly rejected the allegations, and says that its lidar is different from Waymo’s. It had been working on autonomous cars well before it bought Otto, it points out. But the very fact of the lawsuit comes at a bad time for Uber, which is under fire for having a rough-and-tumble culture that values winning at all costs. The lawsuit may also have hurt Uber’s ability to recruit employees to help develop its autonomous efforts. Because of it, no one knows which technologies the firm will be able to use.
Uber方面坚决否认了相关指控，表示它拥有的激光测量与探测技术不同与Waymo公司的技术。该公司指出，在收购Otto之前，就开展了自动化汽车方面的研究。不过，这起诉讼对于Uber来说，来的很不是时候；它正因为拥有不惜一切代价要取得胜利的混乱文化而遭受抨击。该项诉讼可能也造成Uber无法招募人员研发自动驾驶技术。因为由于身陷诉讼案，没人知道Uber未来会使用哪种自动驾驶技术。
As a result, the outcome could affect the landscape for autonomous-vehicle technology. Alphabet has been working on self-driving cars since 2009 but now faces lots of competition. It has watched established carmakers and younger rivals accelerate their efforts. Uber has been scrambling to develop autonomous capabilities lest another company come up with a cheaper ride-hailing service using self-driving cars. A federal judge was expected to decide whether to grant Waymo’s request for an injunction as The Economist went to press. Such an outcome could bar Uber from using its lidar technology until the case goes to trial in October.
因此，诉讼结果可能会影响自动驾驶汽车技术的整体发展。自2009年以来，Alphabet一直在开发自动驾驶汽车，不过目前遇到了不少竞争。传统的汽车生产商成立以及更年轻的竞争对手都在发力。Uber一直努力提高自动化能力，以免有企业会使用自动驾驶汽车推出更廉价的的网约车服务。在《经济学人》刊发之际，一名联邦法官将决定是否接受Waymo的请求，向Uber下发禁令。这种结果可能会禁止Uber使用其激光探测与测量技术，直至案件于10月开庭审理。
As well as revealing cut-throat competition over self-driving car technology, the case draws attention to how intertwined rivals often are in Silicon Valley. Alphabet is one of Uber’s largest shareholders. Its venture-capital arm, Google Ventures, made a $250m investment in Uber in 2013. Until last year David Drummond, Alphabet’s chief legal officer, sat on Uber’s board.
该案件在揭露自动驾驶汽车技术残酷竞争的同时，也让人注意到硅谷中各竞争对手之间盘根错节的关系上。Alphabet是Uber大股东之一。它的风险资本部门谷歌风投（ Google Ventures）在2013年向Uber投资了2.5亿美元。在2016年之真，Alphabet首席法律顾问大卫·德拉蒙德（David Drummond）一直是Uber的董事会成员。
Firms allow star employees to develop complex loyalties, too. It has emerged in legal documents that at Alphabet, Mr Levandowski had two self-driving startups on the side. Alphabet dealt with this by quietly buying the firms for a reported total of $50m, presumably wanting to keep him and to stop rivals acquiring his startups.
企业也允许自家的明星员工拥有多种不同的身份。这咱在法律文件中有所体现。例如，莱万多斯基在Alphabet就职的同时，还在两家自动驾驶创业公司做兼职。有猜测认为可能是为了留住他，防止竞争对手收购其公司，Alphabet低调地以5000万美元的总价收购了这两家公司。
Uber last month demoted Mr Levandowski so that he no longer leads the company’s autonomous initiatives. The future of ferrying things and people about will rely on self-driving technology. Uber’s acquisition of Otto seemed a far-sighted bet not long ago. But now it looks like Uber’s riskiest decision yet.
上个月，Uber将莱万多斯基的职位下调，不再掌管自动驾驶业务。在未来，运货和载人将依靠自动驾驶技术。不久前，Uber收购Otto似乎是一个远见之举。不过现在看来，这是Uber目前为止做过的风险最大的决定。
编译：张思莹
编辑：翻吧君
来源：经济学人