Alphabet Inc.’s self-driving car unit Waymo Inc. has claimed in a new legal filing that Uber Technologies Inc. is involved in a “cover-up” regarding technology Waymo says Uber stole in its bid to develop a fully autonomous vehicle.

In February Waymo sued Uber for infringement of a patent and theft of trade secrets, claiming it had stolen technology related to its “highly specialized” LiDAR system. LiDAR uses laser-guided sensors to map the environment and is pivotal in autonomous vehicle development. Uber called the claims “baseless” after Waymo had asked a federal judge to halt Uber’s self-driving car plans in March.

While Uber has said its four-lens LiDAR system, codenamed Fuji, isn’t even ready, Waymo is now saying that Uber hid a second system from the court that look much likes its own. “They were hiding a device,” Waymo’s lawyers said, “which Uber only revealed to Waymo after one of its engineers was forced to admit it existed.” The device in question is a single-lens LiDAR system, allegedly similar to that of Waymo’s.

At the center of the scandal is Anthony Levandowski (pictured, right), a former Google engineer and now head of Uber’s self-driving division. Levandowski is accused of downloading thousands of files before leaving Google, consisting of information about Waymo’s LiDAR system. The engineer left Google to start self-driving truck company Otto, which was later acquired by Uber for $680 million.

Those stolen files align closely with the device Uber hid from the court, Waymo said. Uber rebutted this claim, stating that it didn’t present the second device to the court as it had long since abandoned that particular technology.

Speaking for Uber, Head of Corporate Communications Matt Kallman said the company had not kept anything secret from the court and had made information about the abandoned LiDAR project available to the court. Uber also said it had worked on LiDAR technology before Levandowski joined the company. Nonetheless, Waymo has asked the court to prevent Uber from “continuing to use Levandowski in its driverless car program.”

“Uber has taken, copied, and used Waymo’s technology,” said Waymo’s lawyers, and therefore an injunction must be imposed. According to some reports, Waymo has a strong case.

Image: Transport Topics via Flickr