INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Lior Ron, the co-founder of the controversial self-driving technology company Otto, is returning to Uber to head up its trucking logistics
company, Uber Freight, TechCrunch has confirmed.
Both Ron and his co-founder and ex-Googler Anthony Levandowski went to Uber after it
acquired Otto in August of 2016
However, Levandowski was fired from Uber after pleading the Fifth Amendment to his accused involvement in stealing Google self-driving car
trade secrets for use in Otto technology.Ron exited Uber a month after the company settled with Google parent company Alphabet for $245
million over the dispute.
Now, after some reportedly intense, month-long negotiations, Lior plans to return to Uber pending acquisition of
The self-driving trucking company is a separate entity from Otto, and the deal to purchase Otto other units never fully closed, leading to
continued negotiations.
Ron is an obvious pick to run Uber Freight as he helped &lay the groundwork& for the momentum the company has seen
since its founding, according to Uber
He also managed to negotiate a deal with his employees in mind
The new deal would allow Uber Freight to be a standalone business within Uber and give Otto Trucking shareholders an equity stake in Uber
Freight.
However, Levandowski will sell his shares in the freight company to an undisclosed VC firm, according to Bloomberg
Uber did not comment on which firm that might be
Meanwhile, Uber, which owns a majority stake in Freight, plans to double its investment in the company over the next year.
