Uber Freight lead, Lior Ron, has left the company

Lior Ron, Uber’s head of freight operations, has left the company, a source familiar with the situation told TechCrunch.

“We remain fully invested in and excited about the future of Uber Freight,” an Uber spokesperson said in a statement to TechCrunch. “Since launching in Texas, we have introduced Freight to all states in the continental U.S. We believe it will continue to grow as we use our network and technology to transform the trucking industry.”

Ron is the co-founder of self-driving truck startup Otto, which sold to Uber in 2016. Otto was at the center of Uber’s recently-settled lawsuit with Alphabet’s Waymo over self-driving car technology. Waymo alleged Anthony Levandowski, an Otto co-founder, stole thousands of documents from Waymo before leaving to start Otto. That case has since been settled, with Uber agreeing to pay Waymo roughly $245 million in Uber stock.

Ron, however, was not involved with any of Uber’s self-driving efforts, the source said. Uber confirmed to TechCrunch Uber Freight is a separate product from its self-driving trucks, with entirely separate teams. Down the road, those teams may indeed work together more regularly.

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