Tesla Seeks Apple’s Help on Theft of Autonomy Secrets
Tesla Inc. has asked Apple Inc. to help it prosecute a former employee suspected of stealing secrets about its autonomous car program before leaving to join Chinese rival Xpeng Motors.
#legal
Tesla Inc. has asked Apple Inc. to help it prosecute a former employee suspected of stealing secrets about its autonomous car program before leaving to join Chinese rival Xpeng Motors.
Tesla believes that former engineer Guangzhi Cao downloaded thousands of confidential documents before taking a job with Xpeng Motors’ XMors.ai research unit.
Cao acknowledged in a court document that he had copied the source code for Tesla’s Autopilot semi-autonomous driving system. But his lawyer claims Cao did nothing with the material and has attempted to scrub the files from his computers.
Tesla’s early court filings indicate it has served Apple with a subpoena regarding the case. It isn’t clear what materials Tesla wants. Last year a former Apple engineer was arrested on suspicions he downloaded files about Apple’s autonomous car project and was about to take them with him to his new job with Xpeng.
Xpeng has been implicated in other similar situations. The company insists it has never received stolen materials from any of its hires.
RELATED CONTENT
-
On Zeekr, the Price of EVs, and Lighting Design
About Zeekr, failure, the price of EVs, lighting design, and the exceedingly attractive Karma
-
Cobots: 14 Things You Need to Know
What jobs do cobots do well? How is a cobot programmed? What’s the ROI? We asked these questions and more to four of the leading suppliers of cobots.
-
Plastics: The Tortoise and the Hare
Plastic may not be in the news as much as some automotive materials these days, but its gram-by-gram assimilation could accelerate dramatically.