Anthony Levandowski is a French-American engineer who is best known for his work on self-driving car technology. He co-founded Google’s self-driving car program Waymo, the autonomous trucking companies Otto and Pronto, and was involved in a high-profile legal dispute with Google over trade secret theft. So, how much is Anthony Levandowski’s net worth in 2023?
Anthony Levandowski’s Net Worth 2023
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Anthony Levandowski’s net worth as of May 2023 is -$20 million. This means that he has more liabilities than assets, and is technically bankrupt.
How did this happen? Well, Levandowski’s net worth took a huge hit in March 2020, when he lost a $179 million arbitration award to Google. The tech giant accused him of stealing trade secrets related to self-driving car technology when he left Google to join Uber in 2016. Levandowski had received $250 million worth of Uber stock as part of the deal, but he had to forfeit most of it to pay Google.
Levandowski filed for personal bankruptcy in March 2020, listing between $50 and $100 million worth of assets and $100 – $500 million worth of liabilities. In early 2022, Levandowski, Google, and Uber reached a global settlement, with Levandowski owing between $25 and $30 million to Google.
In addition to the civil case, Levandowski also faced criminal charges for trade secret theft. He was indicted on 33 federal counts in August 2019 and pleaded guilty to one count in August 2020. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison but was pardoned by former President Donald Trump in January 2021.
Despite his legal troubles, Levandowski has not given up on his passion for self-driving car technology. He rejoined Pronto as CEO in September 2021, and announced the company’s new off-road autonomous division. Pronto claims to have developed the first self-driving technology that can handle unpaved roads, gravel, mud, and snow.
Anthony Levandowski’s Career Highlights
Anthony Levandowski was born on March 15, 1980, in Brussels, Belgium. He moved to California with his parents in the mid-1990s, and started developing websites for local businesses as a teenager.
He attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial engineering and operations research. He also founded several tech startups while still at college, such as La Raison (an intranet and IT services company), Construction Control Systems (a portable blueprint reader for construction sites), and 510 Systems (a mobile mapping company).
Levandowski’s interest in self-driving car technology began when he built an autonomous motorcycle called Ghost Rider for the DARPA Grand Challenge in 2004 and 2005. The Ghost Rider was the only two-wheeled vehicle in the competition and attracted the attention of Google.
In 2007, Levandowski joined Google as part of the team that developed the Google Street View system. He ordered 100 Toyota Priuses and outfitted them with roof-mounted mobile mapping boxes that allowed the cars to drive around and generate 3D maps.
In 2009, Levandowski co-founded Google’s self-driving car program with computer scientist Sebastian Thrun. He was a technical lead for the project until 2016 when he left Google to start his own autonomous trucking company called Otto.
Otto was acquired by Uber in August 2016 for $680 million. Levandowski became the head of Uber’s self-driving car division but was fired in May 2017 after Google sued him for trade secret theft.
In 2018, Levandowski co-founded Pronto with Ognen Stojanovski. Pronto is an autonomous trucking company that uses cameras and software to enable self-driving on highways. In October 2018, Pronto completed the first coast-to-coast drive by an autonomous vehicle without any human intervention.
Conclusion
Anthony Levandowski is one of the pioneers of self-driving car technology, but his career has been marred by legal battles with Google over trade secret theft. His net worth has plummeted from over $100 million to -$20 million as a result of losing a $179 million arbitration award to Google and forfeiting most of his Uber stock.
However, Levandowski has not given up on his vision of creating autonomous vehicles that can handle any road condition. He rejoined Pronto as CEO in 2021, and announced the company’s new off-road autonomous division. He hopes to make Pronto the leader in self-driving technology for unpaved roads.
10 Most Asked Questions and Answers About Anthony Levandowski
- Who is Anthony Levandowski?
Anthony Levandowski is a French-American engineer who is best known for his work on self-driving car technology. He co-founded Google’s self-driving car program Waymo, the autonomous trucking companies Otto and Pronto, and was involved in a high-profile legal dispute with Google over trade secret theft.
- How much is Anthony Levandowski’s net worth?
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Anthony Levandowski’s net worth as of May 2023 is -$20 million. This means that he has more liabilities than assets, and is technically bankrupt.
- Why is Anthony Levandowski bankrupt?
Anthony Levandowski’s net worth took a huge hit in March 2020, when he lost a $179 million arbitration award to Google. The tech giant accused him of stealing trade secrets related to self-driving car technology when he left Google to join Uber in 2016. Levandowski had to forfeit most of his Uber stock to pay Google, and filed for personal bankruptcy in March 2020.
- Did Anthony Levandowski go to jail?
Anthony Levandowski also faced criminal charges for trade secret theft. He was indicted on 33 federal counts in August 2019, and pleaded guilty to one count in August 2020. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison, but was pardoned by former President Donald Trump in January 2021.
- What is Anthony Levandowski doing now?
Anthony Levandowski rejoined Pronto as CEO in September 2021, and announced the company’s new off-road autonomous division. Pronto claims to have developed the first self-driving technology that can handle unpaved roads, gravel, mud, and snow.
- What is Pronto?
Pronto is an autonomous trucking company that uses cameras and software to enable self-driving on highways. It was co-founded by Anthony Levandowski and Ognen Stojanovski in 2018. In October 2018, Pronto completed the first coast-to-coast drive by an autonomous vehicle without any human intervention.
- What is Waymo?
Waymo is Google’s self-driving car program that was co-founded by Anthony Levandowski and Sebastian Thrun in 2009. It is now a subsidiary of Alphabet, Google’s parent company. Waymo aims to create fully autonomous vehicles that can operate safely and efficiently on public roads.
- What is Otto?
Otto was an autonomous trucking company that was co-founded by Anthony Levandowski and Lior Ron in 2016. It was acquired by Uber in August 2016 for $680 million. Otto’s goal was to retrofit existing trucks with self-driving technology that could operate on highways.
- What is Ghost Rider?
Ghost Rider was an autonomous motorcycle that was built by Anthony Levandowski and a team of Berkeley engineers for the DARPA Grand Challenge in 2004 and 2005. It was the only two-wheeled vehicle in the competition, and attracted the attention of Google.
- Where was Anthony Levandowski born?
Anthony Levandowski was born on March 15, 1980, in Brussels, Belgium. He moved to California with his parents in the mid-1990s, and started developing websites for local businesses as a teenager.
- Anthony Levandowski was born on March 15, 1980, in Brussels, Belgium to a French diplomat mother and an American businessman father. He moved to California with his parents in the mid-1990s
- Levandowski is married and has two children. His wife’s name is Stephanie Levandowski, and she is a former Google employee. They live in San Francisco, California
- Levandowski is a devout Catholic and has founded a religious organization called Way of the Future, which aims to create and worship an artificial intelligence god. He believes that AI will eventually surpass human intelligence and morality and that humans should follow its guidance.
- Levandowski is also an avid collector of rare cars and motorcycles. He owns a Ferrari 458 Italia, a McLaren 12C Spider, a Ford GT40, a Lamborghini Aventador, and several vintage bikes. He also built his own autonomous motorcycle called Ghost Rider, which competed in the DARPA Grand Challenge in 2004 and 2005.