Uber fired the executive at the center of the Alphabet lawsuit

Uber has terminated Anthony Levandowski, the former head of its self-driving team, who is at the center of a lawsuit brought against the company by Alphabet. The New York Times first reported the firing; we’ve confirmed it with Uber.

Levandowski, who is not named in the suit, pleaded the Fifth early in the case, seeking not to be forced to testify. However, earlier this month, the ride-hail company notified him that he would be fired if he did not cooperate with the court’s orders.

Alphabet has alleged that Levandowski stole 14,000 files before leaving the company to start his own autonomous tech startup, Otto, which Uber later acquired.

Eric Meyhofer, who took over as head of the department when Levandowski recused himself from the role as a result of the suit, will continue to lead Uber’s self-driving arm.

The company says it had been pressing Levandowski for months to comply with an internal investigation it was conducting and set a deadline for him to do so, which he did not meet.

This is developing...

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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