The automotive community is filled with many talents that have achieved great things, like self-driving car technology. One of them is Anthony Levandowski. The 43-year-old engineer was brought up in Belgium and the United States. Anthony partly founded Google’s automotive program that aims to promote the driverless sector. His extensive knowledge of automotive engineering gave him the opportunity to be a team lead. As a result, the role helped to generate more income and increased Anthony Levandowski net worth. Read below to get a glimpse of Anthony’s life.
About Anthony Levandowski
Self-driving automobile engineer Anthony Levandowski is a French-American businessman known as an I.T. expert. He is highly creative and innovative, hence why he decided to join hands with Google in 2009. The result of their collaboration is the birth of Google’s Waymo, a self-driving initiative.
Family
His father is American, while his mother is French. Some years after he was born, he left Belgium for the United States. As a teenager, Anthony was interested and passionate about information technology. He used to build websites for companies within his locality.
Education
Anthony completed his high school and university degree in the United States. He bagged his first degree and postgraduate degree in the same course at the same university.
Competitions
Anthony participated in various robotics and automotive competitions. He built a robot with hundreds of Legos, a creation he submitted for a competition, and won. Then he made control system technology that was useful for construction workers in 2003.
2004 Automotive Competition
He built a self-driving motorbike with other engineers in the same year. The purpose was to use the motorbike as their submission for an automotive competition. Their motorbike was the only motorbike competing for the grand prize. Everybody present was in awe of the bike because it had IMU, GPS, computers, cameras, and so on. Anthony led the team and this opened many other opportunities for him.
In addition, he built the first-ever autonomous car that was driven on public motorways afterward. He later gave the bike to an American museum and the bike is still there to date.
Business Ventures
College Businesses
His partnership with Google wasn’t his first foray into the business world. During his first year at the university, Anthony created a firm that offered IT and intranet services. The firm was successful and had a $50,000 revenue after 12 months. This means that Anthony Levandowski net worth was worth thousands of dollars even as a college student.
Businesses He Established After College
Anthony was given a technical lead role at Google’s driverless program, a position he held for a while. In 2016, he left his role at Google to establish a new driverless trucking business with another partner. However, they sold the business in the same year to Uber. Then two years later, Anthony created another self-driving firm with a partner. The firm was the first in the United States to produce a driverless automobile to finish a cross-country drive. This happened the same year they started the company. Selling his second business meant an increase in Anthony Levandowski net worth at that time.
The Technology Behind Anthony’s Driverless Ideas
Anthony is an avid supporter, advocate, user, and developer of technology. Hence, all his business ventures have adopted cutting-edge technology to manufacture vehicles. At a Summit hosted in 2019, Anthony alluded to his company’s success with Artificial Intelligence (AI). He said that self-driving car technology needs AI breakthroughs. Also, he stated that if the government and stakeholders invest more in AI, the automotive sector will thrive more.
Brush with the Law
Anthony isn’t a stranger to lawsuits and court proceedings. He was arrested for stealing business secrets of driverless vehicles in 2019 and subsequently detained. He was arraigned in court and indicted with nearly 34 charges. The following year, Anthony pleaded guilty to only one charge out of all the charges given. As a result, he was given an 18-month prison sentence.
The Allegations
The allegations made against Anthony were about him stealing files from Google at the department where he once worked. He was accused of downloading classified information before leaving the organization. Other allegations include unauthorized possession of another Google project data. The prosecuting counsels alleged that the files Anthony had supposedly contained Google’s trade secrets for making their autonomous cars. Furthermore, they said that Anthony sent the classified information to his personal computer and left Google thereafter.
Release from Prison
Seeing that Anthony was jailed, one of the autonomous firms where he is a cofounder replaced him as the CEO. In a twist of fate, after spending five months in prison, Anthony was pardoned. Former President Trump pardoned several criminals to celebrate his final day of being the United States president. Anthony was part of the criminals who were released.
What Happened After He was Released?
A few months after his release, Anthony resumed his CEO position at his company. He didn’t let his imprisonment or criminal record deter him from performing his CEO duties at work. His company announced to the public that they have a new self-driving off-road branch.
Conclusion
In summary, Anthony Levandowski is a genius in the automotive engineering department who has made significant contributions. He has proven himself times without number to be an astute businessman and innovator. This is why no matter what situation he is in, Anthony Levandowski net worth will never decrease.
