(Self-driving) car wars heat up between Google, Uber

SAN FRANCISCO -- If you need a sure sign the race to develop self-driving cars is no longer just an interesting science project, David Drummond's departure from Uber's board is it.

Drummond, an early employee of Alphabet who oversees corporate development and its investment arm for the parent of Google, stepped down Monday after two years of serving on Uber's board. Prior to both companies confirming the departure, tech news site The Information reported Drummond had been kept out of recent Uber board meetings.

Drummond's departure coincided with a report Tuesday that Google was getting ready to roll out a service in San Francisco soon that would allow riders to use the Google-owned Waze traffic app to carpool with commuters heading in similar directions. The resulting fee to the rider would be significantly lower than a current Uber or Lyft fare, according to sources speaking to The Wall Street Journal.

Google's Waze pilot project began in May around its Mountain View, Calif. headquarters, and charges riders 54 cents a mile for the service, a source told the Journal. Waze, which was founded in Israel, has been offering its carpooling service in that country since last year.

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The competition between the two tech companies over the coming shift in transportation couldn't be more pointed.

Just a few weeks ago, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick revealed his company would be piloting a self-driving car service in Pittsburgh, a driverless shift that ultimately would slash the cost of a ride. Kalanick also announced Uber was buying self-driving truck startup Otto, which was started by former employees of Google's seven-year-old self-driving car project.

"I recently stepped down from Uber's board given the overlap between the two companies," Drummond, 53, said in a statement provided to USA TODAY by both Uber and Alphabet. "GV remains an enthusiastic investor and Google will continue to partner with Uber."

Kalanick, 40, thanked Drummond for his service, adding that he "has been a sage advisor and a great personal friend. I wish David and Alphabet the best, and look forward to continued cooperation and partnership."

The move is reminiscent of Google executive Eric Schmidt's resignation from Apple's board in 2009, just as competition mounted between the two tech companies over smartphones (Android vs iPhone) and related consumer services.

As chairman of Alphabet's GV, for Google Ventures, Drummond was instrumental in a massive $250 million investment in Uber in 2013. Drummond joined Alphabet, then called Google, in 2002 from storied Silicon Valley law firm Wilson Sonsini, and served as Google's first outside counsel.

In the past few years, Google has developed its own proprietary self-driving cars that eventually will have neither steering wheels nor pedals and most likely serve as fleets of low-speed urban transportation.

Earlier this year, Uber opened its Advanced Technologies Center in Pittsburgh, staffing it largely with engineers from longtime self-driving car hotbed Carnegie Mellon University. In May, Uber started testing self-driving cars.

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In the coming weeks, Uber will begin picking up passengers in a handful Volvo SUV's outfitted with technology created by both companies in a $300 million partnership to advance autonomous driving.

With its purchase of Otto, Uber lands that start-up's guiding light, Anthony Levandowski, who will take over self-driving car tech for all of Uber, Kalanick said. Levandowski spent eight years at Google, where he was instrumental in building the company's first self-driving car tech.

Uber's forward momentum stands in contrast to recent high-level departures from Google's autonomous car program, notably that of its longtime technology lead, Chris Urmson.

For many years, Urmson was the public face of Google's efforts (he was often quoted as saying that he hoped to get a self driving car on the road by 2020, in time so that his son didn't have to get a license). But the engineer abruptly announced his farewell in a blog post Aug. 5.

The past month has seen a flurry of self-driving car news from companies large and small. Ford recently announced that it would be developing an autonomous car without a steering wheel or pedals specifically for ride-hailing purposes by 2021.

And Lidar (laser radar) company Velodyne landed $150 million in funding from Ford and China's Baidu to speed up development of lower-cost Lidar, which is considered integral to scaling up autonomous car fleets.

Follow USA TODAY tech reporter  Marco Della Cava @marcodellacava.