Uber hires Google's former head of search, stoking a rivalry

The hiring of Amit Singhal, who left Google last year, is a coup for Uber

Uber and Google have long been bitter rivals in the race to build the autonomous vehicles that appear integral to the future of transportation. Soon, Uber will have a bit of help in that effort from a man who has played a key role in Google’s history.

Amit Singhal, a 15-year Google veteran and a former senior vice-president for search at the company, said on Friday that he planned to join Uber as senior vice president for engineering. At Uber, he will work to build out the software and infrastructure that are the foundation of the company’s ride-hailing services.

In his new position, Singhal will report to Travis Kalanick, Uber’s chief executive, and will lead the company’s mapping division as well as a unit that runs the dispatching, marketing and pricing of Uber cars. Singhal will also advise Anthony Levandowski, who runs the company’s self-driving automobile efforts.

“It’s hard enough to connect millions of drivers to millions of riders in real time while creating optimal routes for drivers,” Singhal wrote in a post on his personal blog on Friday. “Add to that the twist of predicting real-time traffic, pooling multiple riders and making the system economically attractive for everyone — and now you have one of the most challenging computer science problems I’ve encountered in my 30-year career.”

The hiring of Singhal, who left Google last year, is a coup for Uber, which has publicly stated its intention to fight Google’s substantial head start in autonomous-vehicle research. Uber has poached multiple high-level employees from Google over the past seven years, including Brian McClendon, a mapping expert, and Levandowski, a veteran of self-driving-car research.

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