"...Levandowski is a standout among an elite cadre of engineers with expertise in autonomous driving, which is widely considered the future of the auto industry. In 2004, he was part of a UC Berkeley graduate student team that created a self-driving motorcycle to compete in early federally sponsored races. He went on to found a series of companies related to autonomous vehicles, some of which were acquired by Google and later by Uber.

“For a guy who was so smart, the way in which he (allegedly) behaved here was really dumb,” said James Pooley, a Menlo Park lawyer specializing in trade secrets.

In Silicon Valley, where job-hopping is almost obligatory, the case underscores why companies “have to be sober and clear-eyed about the risk you face when you hire someone from a competitor in a fast-moving field where there are a limited number of very knowledgeable people,” Pooley said...."