java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: Failed resolution of: Lcom/google/android/gms/common/GoogleApiAvailabilityLight;

I have an Android Studio project which consists of several modules, and has several gradle files with dependencies.

The project compiles but at runtime, when the app makes a call to the Google Play Service library, it crashes with this stack trace:

java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: Failed resolution of: Lcom/google/android/gms/common/GoogleApiAvailabilityLight;
    at com.bosch.wdw.impl.d.g.d(Unknown Source:3088)
    at com.bosch.wdw.impl.d.a(Unknown Source:90)
    at com.bosch.wdw.impl.e.startMonitoring(Unknown Source:122)
    at com.warptec.widgets.WDWTask.startWDWMonitoring(WDWTask.java:199)
    at com.warptec.widgets.WDWTask.permissionForLocation(WDWTask.java:175)
    at com.warptec.widgets.WDWTask.performTask(WDWTask.java:158)
    at com.warptec.widgets.TaskBase$2.run(TaskBase.java:124)
    at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:789)
    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:98)
    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:164)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:6938)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
    at com.android.internal.os.Zygote$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(Zygote.java:327)
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:1374)
 Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "com.google.android.gms.common.GoogleApiAvailabilityLight" on path: DexPathList[[zip file "/data/app/com.warptec.widgets-H5zUVpqwHV8OyTqLouF8ng==/base.apk"],nativeLibraryDirectories=[/data/app/com.warptec.widgets-H5zUVpqwHV8OyTqLouF8ng==/lib/arm, /data/app/com.warptec.widgets-H5zUVpqwHV8OyTqLouF8ng==/base.apk!/lib/armeabi-v7a, /system/lib, /system/vendor/lib]]
    at dalvik.system.BaseDexClassLoader.findClass(BaseDexClassLoader.java:93)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:379)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:312)
    at com.bosch.wdw.impl.d.g.d(Unknown Source:3088) 
    at com.bosch.wdw.impl.d.a(Unknown Source:90) 
    at com.bosch.wdw.impl.e.startMonitoring(Unknown Source:122) 
    at com.warptec.widgets.WDWTask.startWDWMonitoring(WDWTask.java:199) 
    at com.warptec.widgets.WDWTask.permissionForLocation(WDWTask.java:175) 
    at com.warptec.widgets.WDWTask.performTask(WDWTask.java:158) 
    at com.warptec.widgets.TaskBase$2.run(TaskBase.java:124) 
    at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:789) 
    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:98) 
    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:164) 
    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:6938) 
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method) 
    at com.android.internal.os.Zygote$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(Zygote.java:327) 
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:1374) 

The app's module gradle file:

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

android {
    compileSdkVersion 26
    buildToolsVersion "26.0.1"
    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.warptec.widgets"
        minSdkVersion 17
        targetSdkVersion 26
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
        multiDexEnabled true

        testInstrumentationRunner "android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"

        ndk {
            abiFilters "armeabi-v7a", "x86", "armeabi", "mips"
        }
    }
    lintOptions {
        abortOnError false
        disable "ResourceType", "ValidFragment", "WifiManagerLeak", "MissingTranslation"
    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled false
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }
}

dependencies {
    compile fileTree(include: ['*.so', '*.jar'], dir: 'libs')
    androidTestCompile('com.android.support.test.espresso:espresso-core:2.2.2', {
        exclude group: 'com.android.support', module: 'support-annotations'
     })
     /**
     * Library file of the SDK, delivered as aar-library
     */
     compile(name: 'wdwsdk-4.0.1', ext: 'aar')
     compile 'com.google.android.exoplayer:exoplayer-core:r2.4.0'
     compile project(':lChainRunnables')
     compile project(':lClosedSource')
     compile project(':lSpoledgeAAC')
     compile project(':IChromecast')
     compile files('libs/Pushwoosh.jar')
     compile 'com.android.support:support-v4:26.0.0-alpha1'
     compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:26.0.0'
     compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:12.0.1'
}

The IChromecasts module's gradle file:

apply plugin: 'com.android.library'

android {
    compileSdkVersion 26
    buildToolsVersion "26.0.1"
    defaultConfig {
        minSdkVersion 15
        targetSdkVersion 26
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
        testInstrumentationRunner "android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled false
        proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }
}

dependencies {
    compile fileTree(include: ['*.jar'], dir: 'libs')
    androidTestCompile('com.android.support.test.espresso:espresso-core:2.2.2', {
        exclude group: 'com.android.support', module: 'support-annotations'
    })
    compile "com.android.support:mediarouter-v7:26.0.1"
    compile "com.google.android.gms:play-services-cast-framework:12.0.1"

}

This is the top level gradle file:

    // Top-level build file where you can add configuration options common to all sub-projects/modules.

buildscript {
    repositories {
        google()
        jcenter()
        maven {
            url 'https://maven.google.com/'
            name 'Google'
        }
        flatDir {
            dirs 'libs'
        }
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:2.3.3'
        classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:3.3.0'

        // NOTE: Do not place your application dependencies here; they belong
        // in the individual module build.gradle files
    }
}

allprojects {
    repositories {
        google()
        jcenter()
        maven {
            url 'https://maven.google.com/'
            name 'Google'
        }
        flatDir {
            dirs 'libs'
        }
    }
}

task clean(type: Delete) {
    delete rootProject.buildDir
}

Any help is apprciated. Thanks.