https://apnews.com/2cb2709f58dc484ab423c3520ed7f979

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A former Google engineer was charged Tuesday with stealing closely guarded secrets that he later sold to Uber as the ride-hailing service scrambled to catch up in the high-stakes race to build robotic vehicles.

The indictment filed by the U.S. Attorney's office in San Jose, California, is an offshoot of a lawsuit filed in 2017 by Waymo, a self-driving car pioneer spun off from Google. Uber agreed to pay Waymo $245 million to settle the case , but the federal judge overseeing the lawsuit made an unusual recommendation to open a criminal probe .