SAN JOSE, Calif. — Former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski, a pioneer in robotic vehicles, was charged with 33 counts of stealing closely guarded trade secrets that he later sold to Uber.

The indictment filed Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney’s office in San Jose, Calif., is an offshoot of a lawsuit filed in 2017 by Waymo, a self-driving car pioneer spun off from Google. Uber agreed to pay Waymo $245 million to settle the case, but the federal judge overseeing the lawsuit made an unusual recommendation to open a criminal probe.

Uber considered having self-driving technology crucial to survive.

Prosecutors say the probe is ongoing, but they wouldn’t say whether Uber and its founding CEO Travis Kalanick are targets.