Alphabet Exec Steps Down From Uber's Board, Cites Conflict Of Interest

David Drummond, the chief legal officer for Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL, also served as a member of Uber's board of directors — until this week, that is.

In a somewhat complicated relationship between the two companies, Drummond was appointed to Uber's board after Alphabet's investment arm, Google Ventures, led a $360 million round in Uber in August 2013.

Google and its parent company Alphabet's ambitions in the self-driving space began in 2009. Meanwhile, Uber has also been heavily investing in self-driving cars and, in a way, is competing against Google, despite its equity stake in the car-hailing company.

Related Link: Is Uber Beating Google In The Autonomous Driving Race?

As noted by Recode, not only is Uber "increasingly competing" with Google in the self-driving space, Uber just hired Anthony Levandowski — a pioneer of Google's self-driving car project and co-founder of the self-driving trucking company Otto, which Uber also happened to have acquired.

The fierce competition between the two companies was apparent when reports indicated that Drummond and Google Ventures CEO David Krane had both been shut out of Uber's board meetings.

Nevertheless, Drummond's resignation from Uber's board appears to be on good terms. Recode quoted Drummond as acknowledging in a statement that he did step down from Uber's board due to the "overlap between the two companies" but did say that Google Ventures "GV remains an enthusiastic investor and Google will continue to partner with Uber."

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