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An Uber Technologies Inc. whistleblower made explosive allegations that a company team stole trade secrets to gain an edge over rivals, prompting a judge to further delay the ride-hailing company’s trial with Waymo.

What is a trade secret? That seemingly simple question dominated discussions Nov. 14 during a federal court hearing on Waymo vs. Uber, one of the last pretrial sessions before the case, which could shape the future of autonomous vehicles, heads to a jury on Dec 4.

For almost a decade, self-driving cars have graced public roads — but always with a person behind the wheel. Now Waymo is yanking the driver.

AutoNation Inc., the largest car-dealer group in the U.S., reached an agreement to maintain and help manage fleets for Waymo, the self-driving car unit of Alphabet Inc.

A bicyclist pedaled alongside the road and a pedestrian wandered into the crosswalk, as a self-driving minivan headed through a maze of roads in a desolate landscape. As the vehicle turned right, its steering wheel rotated above the empty driver’s seat.

Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo unit demonstrated a self-driving minivan with no one behind the wheel, declaring the vehicle as ready for public use.

The self-driving cars Google designed are going to the snow -- and the seat of the car industry.

Uber Technologies Inc. hired an engineer to lead its driverless car program last year even after its own research revealed red flags about how much proprietary information he took from his former employer, Waymo.

Much like student drivers, Waymo’s self-driving minivans regularly stumble upon situations they’ve never seen before.

Alphabet Inc. is forming a new holding company, XXVI Holdings Inc., designed to finalize its evolution from Google into a corporate parent with distinct arms in far-flung fields like health care and self-driving cars.