It's February 2018, and the federal

and the federal courthouse in San Francisco is bracing for one of the biggest tech showdowns of the decade.

In just a few hours, Waymo and Uber will square off in a trial that threatens to

expose the deepest secrets of Silicon Valley's self-driving revolution. Reporters crowd the

hallway clutching notepads and camera gear. Lawyers from both companies move briskly through

security carrying boxes stuffed with exhibits and confidential filings,

and there is one person everyone is waiting to hear from today.

Anthony Levindowski, once one of Google's brightest robotic stars, he's the reason for this legal showdown.

Waymo, Google's self-driving car division,

is accusing Uber of orchestrating a calculated theft of its trade secrets. A heist worth,

in Waymo's view, $1.8 billion. The allegations are explosive. Waymo says Levenowski stole around 14,000 proprietary files,

nearly 10 gigabytes of designs and engineering documents, before leaving Google in early 2016 and joining

Uber soon after. Waymo discovered the theft, almost by accident.

In December 2016, a Waymo engineer was mistakenly copied on an email from a parts supplier.

Attached was an image of a circuit board Uber had ordered.

It was almost identical to Waymo's own confidential design.

Waymo conducted a forensic investigation, and what they found was damning.

A massive download from Lewandowski's account several weeks before he quit.

They believe Levendowski then tried to cover his tracks,

installing a new operating system to reformat his laptop and erase any forensic fingerprints.

Waymo is convinced that Uber used the stolen files to speed up its own LiDAR development. A charge Uber denies.

Uber's defense is blunt.

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