Former Uber Technologies Inc. chief engineer Anthony Levandowski is back in the autonomous vehicle market with a new startup that is building technology for self-driving trucks.

Called Pronto.ai, the company has designed a camera-based advanced driver assist system called Co-Pilot aimed at the long-haul trucking industry.

According to The Guardian, Co-Pilot offers lane keeping, cruise control and collision avoidance for commercial semi trucks. The platform itself is not fully autonomous but will instead, at least initially, offer Level 2 driver assistance similar to that currently provided in Tesla Inc. vehicles.

Levandowski is so confident of the technology that he claims to have been in a Prius fitted with Co-Pilot that drove itself, without human intervention or premapping, from San Francisco to New York City, a distance of more than 3,000 miles.

“We are not building technology that tells vehicles how to drive,” Levandowski wrote on Medium. “Instead, our team of engineers is building tech that can learn how to drive the way people do. Our new approach has already enabled us to make great progress.”

That certainly looks interesting, but Levandowski’s return to the autonomous vehicle industry has immediately been met with some skepticism.

Levandowski started his career in self-driving cars as an engineer at what was then the Google Car Project before leaving to establish a self-driving truck startup called Otto. Otto was then acquired by Uber for $680 million in August 2016, with Levandowski being appointed to lead the Uber autonomous vehicle development team. Soon after, the drama began.

In February 2017, Waymo LLC, the company formerly known as the Google Car Project, filed a lawsuit against Uber claiming that Levandowski stole some of its autonomous vehicle technology and was using it at Uber. Waymo alleged that Levandowski had downloaded more than 14,000 confidential design files, including the designs for Waymo’s LiDAR.

Although Levandowski was the main target of the lawsuit, Waymo also accused Uber of not doing due diligence when acquiring Otto to begin with. The whole case turned into a comic farce with Uber first defending Levandowski and denying all accusations before later deciding to fire Levandowski in May 2017 after he refused to cooperate with the court, citing the Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination.

The case was ultimately settled Feb. 9 for $245 million, with Uber closing down Otto July 30.

Despite Levandowski never being found guilty of wrongdoing, his involvement in the saga does cast a shadow on anything he builds going forward. On the other hand, it’s difficult to doubt his abilities as an engineer.

Photo: Pronto.ai