Uber just fired the engineer at the center of its legal battle with Google because he won't cooperate

Uber has fired Anthony Levandowski, the former head of its self-driving car program, over his refusal to cooperate in its legal battle against Waymo.

Uber confirmed the move on Tuesday. It was first reported by the New York Times.

An Uber spokesperson said that the company had been asking Levandowski to comply and assist with the internal investigation for months. Levandowski, however, has plead the Fifth Amendment to protect himself against self-incrimination and hired his own criminal attorneys to represent him.

The company said he did not meet an internal deadline and was fired as a result. Eric Meyhofer, who has been running Uber's Advanced Technologies Group, will continue to oversee Uber's self-driving car development.

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