Editing Anthony Levandowski (section)

== Career ==

[[File:MCE 2016 - Josh Switkes, Sean Waters and Anthony Levandowski.jpg|thumb|Levandowski (right) at MCE 2016]]
In 2006, Levandowski began working with [[Sebastian Thrun]], whom he had met at the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge, on VueTool. Vuetool was a Stanford street mapping project that used cameras mounted on vehicles to create maps.<ref name="Harris Wired profile">{{cite magazine|last1=Harris|first1=Mark|date=27 August 2017|title=God Is a Bot, and Anthony Levandowski Is His Messenger|url=https://www.wired.com/story/god-is-a-bot-and-anthony-levandowski-is-his-messenger/|magazine=Wired|access-date=29 September 2017}}</ref> In early 2007, [[Google X]] hired Thrun, Levandowski, and their entire team to help develop the [[Google Street View]] system. To meet [[Larry Page]]'s target of capturing {{convert|1000000|km}} of roadways before the end of 2007, Levandowski ordered 100 Toyota Priuses from a local dealership.<ref name="Harris Wired profile" /> The Street View team's success was partially due to the "Topcon box" or IP-S2 Mobile Mapping System, a roof mounted box composed of Lidar, cameras, GPS, IMUs, and wheel encoders that enabled a car to drive around and create a 3D map. The Topcon box was designed by 510 Systems, a start-up co-founded by Levandowski in early 2007 alongside Pierre-Yves Droz and Andrew Schultz.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Higgins|first=Jack Nicas and Tim|date=2017-05-23|title=Google vs. Uber: How One Engineer Sparked a War|language=en-US|work=Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-a-star-engineer-sparked-a-war-between-google-and-uber-1495556308|access-date=2020-06-16|issn=0099-9660}}</ref><ref name="Harris Wired profile" /><ref name="IEEE Spectrum"/> Google employed 510 Systems technology until it quietly acquired the company in 2011.<ref name="IEEE Spectrum" />

In 2008, Levandowski was approached by the director of [[Discovery Channel]]'s ''[[Prototype This!]]'' requesting to use the Ghost Rider in an episode to deliver a pizza using an unmanned vehicle. The Ghost Rider was in the Smithsonian at the time, so Levandowski offered to retrofit a Toyota Prius for the show.<ref name="IEEE Spectrum" /> Levandowski approached Google and 510 Systems with the venture, but they both turned him down for liability reasons. Levandowski stated, in an interview with ''The Guardian'', "Google was very supportive of the idea, but it absolutely did not want its name associated with it. Google was worried about a Google engineer building a car that crashes and kills someone."<ref name="The Guardian" /> In June 2008, with Google's blessing, Levandowski founded Anthony's Robots in order to build the PriBot.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Robotic Prius Takes Itself For A Spin|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robotic-prius-takes-itself-for-a-spin/|access-date=2020-06-17|website=www.cbsnews.com|date=September 16, 2008 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="CNET" /> The PriBot was "a self-driving Toyota Prius with one of the first spinning Lidar laser ranging units and the first-ever to drive on [[public road]]s."<ref name="The Guardian">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/19/self-driving-car-anthony-levandowski-uber-otto-google|title=How a robot lover pioneered the driverless car, and why he's selling his latest to Uber|first=Mark|last=Harris|date=19 Aug 2016|work=The Guardian|access-date=13 September 2016}}</ref> For the show footage, the police cleared the road and escorted the driverless Prius on a pre-determined route from San Francisco across the Bay Bridge. The drive was successful, aside from scraping against a guard rail on a sharp turn. Within the span of weeks, Levandowski had demonstrated that self-driving cars were possible, even on a budget.<ref name="IEEE Spectrum" /> By early 2009, Levandowski and Thrun were greenlit by Brin and Page to launch their own driverless car project within Google. Anthony's Robots was acquired by Google in 2011 alongside his company 510 Systems for an estimated $20 million.<ref name="IEEE Spectrum" /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37117831|title=Uber to deploy self-driving cars in Pittsburgh|work=BBC News|date=August 18, 2016|access-date=13 September 2016}}</ref>

=== Waymo and Otto ===
{{Main|Waymo}}
In 2009, Levandowski and Thrun co-founded Google's self-driving car project Chauffeur, now known as Waymo. Over the next two years, Levandowski's 510 Systems built five additional self-driving Priuses for Google.<ref name="Harris Wired profile" /> In 2011, Levandowski lobbied [[Nevada]] to allow the testing of autonomous vehicles. In May 2012, the Las Vegas [[Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles|DMV]] performed the first self-driving car test with [[Chris Urmson]] in the driver's seat and Anthony Levandowski in the passenger seat. The car passed the test.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Full Page Reload|url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/how-googles-autonomous-car-passed-the-first-us-state-selfdriving-test|access-date=2020-06-17|website=IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News|date=September 10, 2014|language=en}}</ref> Levandowski continued to work as a technical lead on Google's self-driving car project alongside [[Chris Urmson]], Dmitri Dolgov, and Mike Montemerlo until January 2016, when he left to launch [[Otto (company)|Otto]]. In addition to Project Chauffeur, Levandowski's contributions to Google include work on Street View, Cardboard, Telepresence, Ground Truth, Oblique Aerial Imagery, and Tiramisu.<ref name="Harris Wired profile" /> Levandowski allegedly downloaded 9.7 GB of Waymo's confidential files before resigning to found Otto.

Otto was founded in January 2016 by Levandowski, Lior Ron, Claire Delaunay, and Don Burnette. Eleven Google employees also joined them.<ref name=":6" /> Otto retrofitted [[Semi-trailer truck|big rig]] trucks with self-driving kits.<ref name="Medium post announcing Otto">{{cite web|title=Introducing Otto, the startup rethinking commercial trucking|url=https://blog.ot.to/introducing-otto-the-startup-rethinking-commercial-trucking-cfdc502ef452|website=Medium|date=May 17, 2016|publisher=Otto|access-date=29 September 2017}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="Wired How Otto defied Nevada">{{cite magazine|last1=Harris|first1=Mark|title=How Otto defied Nevada and scored a $680m payout from Uber|url=https://www.wired.com/2016/11/how-otto-defied-nevada-and-scored-a-680-million-payout-from-uber/ |magazine=Wired|date=November 28, 2016|access-date=29 September 2017}}</ref><ref name="Harris How my public records request">{{cite magazine|last1=Harris|first1=Mark|title=How my public records request triggered Waymo's self-driving car lawsuit|url=https://www.wired.com/2017/02/how-my-public-records-request-triggered-waymos-self-driving-car-lawsuit/|magazine=Wired|date=February 27, 2017|access-date=29 September 2017}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/17/technology/want-to-buy-a-self-driving-car-trucks-may-come-first.html|title=Want to Buy a Self-Driving Car? Big-Rig Trucks May Come First|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 17, 2016|access-date=13 September 2016|last1=Markoff|first1=John}}</ref> Levandowski stated he left Google because he, "was eager to commercialize a self-driving vehicle as quickly as possible."<ref name="Wired How Otto defied Nevada" /> Otto was acquired by [[Uber]] in late July 2016, at which point Levandowski assumed leadership of Uber's driverless car operation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/18/uber-acquires-otto-to-lead-ubers-self-driving-car-effort-report-says/|title=Uber acquires Otto to lead Uber's self-driving car effort|work=TechCrunch|date=August 18, 2016 |access-date=13 September 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-08-18/uber-s-first-self-driving-fleet-arrives-in-pittsburgh-this-month-is06r7on|title= Uber's First Self-Driving Fleet Arrives in Pittsburgh This Month|newspaper= Bloomberg.com|date= August 18, 2016|publisher=Bloomberg Businessweek|access-date=13 September 2016}}</ref> ln May 2017 Levandowski was fired from Uber after Waymo and Google charged he had raided Waymo's design server.  In July 2018  Uber's autonomous trucking program was shut down.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Uber Parks Its Self-Driving Truck Project, Saying It Will Push For Autonomous Cars|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/07/31/634331593/uber-parks-its-self-driving-truck-project-saying-it-will-push-for-autonomous-car|access-date=2020-06-18|website=NPR.org|date=July 31, 2018|language=en|last1=Chappell|first1=Bill}}</ref>

In 2015, Levandowski established a [[religious organisation]] called [[Way of the Future]] with the stated intention of creating a god with "[[Christian morality|Christian morals]]" through [[artificial intelligence]].<ref name="Harris Wired profile2">{{cite magazine |last1=Harris |first1=Mark |date=27 August 2017 |title=God Is a Bot, and Anthony Levandowski Is His Messenger |url=https://www.wired.com/story/god-is-a-bot-and-anthony-levandowski-is-his-messenger/ |accessdate=29 September 2017 |magazine=Wired}}</ref> He dissolved the organization in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Korosec |first=Kirsten |date=2021-02-18 |title=Anthony Levandowski closes his Church of AI |url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/18/anthony-levandowski-closes-his-church-of-ai/ |access-date=2022-11-01 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Pronto AI ===
In 2018, Levandowski launched Pronto AI to produce a camera-based, self-driving highway-only retrofit system for [[semi-truck]]s. Levandwoski's bankruptcy filings in 2019 showed that he had invested over $8.5 million into the company.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Korosec |first=Kirsten |date=2022-02-16 |title=Inside the Uber and Google settlement with Anthony Levandowski |url=https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/15/inside-the-uber-and-google-settlement-with-anthony-levandowski/ |access-date=2023-01-30 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}</ref> As proof of concept, Levandowski claimed to have taken a modified self-driving Prius {{convert|3,100|mi}} across the United States.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/story/anthony-levandowsk-pronto-self-driving-truck/|title=Self-Driving's Outcast Returns With a Robotruck Scheme|last=Davies|first=Alex|date=2018-12-18|magazine=Wired|access-date=2018-12-19|issn=1059-1028}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/02/anthony-levandowski-is-back-with-a-new-self-driving-startup-called-kache-ai/|title=Anthony Levandowski is back with a new self-driving startup, called Kache.ai|work=TechCrunch|date=July 2, 2018 |access-date=20 July 2018}}</ref> Some publications expressed doubt over the video's authenticity.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/18/anthony-levandowski-claims-cross-country-trip-in-self-driving-car.html|title=Anthony Levandowski claims cross-country trip in self-driving car|last=Salinas|first=Sara|date=2018-12-18|website=www.cnbc.com|access-date=2018-12-19}}</ref> ''[[Engadget]]'' noted that the video was uploaded as a timelapse, making it difficult to verify the footage.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ex-Uber engineer claims to travel 3,099 miles in a self-driving car |url=https://www.engadget.com/2018-12-18-levandowski-claims-3099-mile-self-driving-car-trip.html |access-date=2023-01-20 |website=Engadget |date=December 18, 2018 |language=en-US}}</ref> As of 2022, the company had pivoted to developing self-driving vehicles for more limited use in environments such as quarries.<ref name=":9">{{Cite news |date=2022-10-06 |title=Even After $100 Billion, Self-Driving Cars Are Going Nowhere |language=en |work=Bloomberg.com |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-10-06/even-after-100-billion-self-driving-cars-are-going-nowhere |access-date=2023-01-20}}</ref>

In February 2022, Levandowski launched Pollen Mobile, an open-source wireless network. Pollen Mobile distributed antennas and other devices, called Flowers, Hummingbirds and Bumblebees to consumers. The network is used by Pronto AI’s autonomous vehicles and is operational in the Bay Area.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anthony Levandowski's latest moonshot is a peer-to-peer telecom network powered by cryptocurrency |url=https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/02/anthony-levandowskis-latest-moonshot-is-a-peer-to-peer-telecom-network-powered-by-cryptocurrency/ |access-date=2022-04-12 |website=TechCrunch |date=February 2, 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref>

In October 2022, Levandowski expressed doubt that self-driving cars would find mainstream success in the near future.<ref name=":9" />