Waymo has sued the California Department of Motor Vehicles. In a case first reported by , the Alphabet subsidiary filed a complaint with the Sacramento County Superior Court on January twenty first to forestall the company from disclosing what it believes to be commerce secrets and techniques.

At the middle of the lawsuit is a public information request an unidentified get together made to acquire Waymo’s driverless deployment utility. Before sharing the requested paperwork, the DMV allowed the corporate to redact any sections it believed would reveal its commerce secrets and techniques, together with questions that had been requested by the company. When the DMV ultimately forwarded the bundle to the requester, that particular person or group challenged the redactions. The company then contacted Waymo and invited the corporate to sue it to resolve the matter.

Some of the knowledge Waymo desires to forestall from coming into the general public area embody particulars on the way it plans to deal with emergencies involving its autonomous autos. Another redacted part particulars the skills of its Driver software program to deal with San Francisco’s . The firm started providing taxi service to a restricted variety of clients in San Francisco in . Those autos function with a backup human driver.

The firm contends it has publicly shared virtually the entire info contained in its utility with the DMV. According to Waymo, the redactions contain technical particulars that contact on the way it achieves the security efficiency it has detailed in different public venues. Waymo claims that info might give a competitor an edge on it. The swimsuit’s objective right here is to both forestall or utterly stop the disclosure of the requested info. As The Los Angeles Times notes, decision for most of these circumstances can take years.

“Every autonomous vehicle company has an obligation to demonstrate the safety of its technology, which is why we’ve transparently and consistently shared data on our safety readiness with the public,” a spokesperson for Waymo informed Engadget. “We will continue to work with the DMV to determine what is appropriate for us to share publicly and hope to find a resolution soon.”

The DMV declined to touch upon the case, however stated it is presently reviewing the criticism.