Slashdot Mirror
Tesla Sues Former Employees For Allegedly Stealing Data, Autopilot Source Code (reuters.com)
Tesla is suing a former engineer at the company, claiming he copied the source code for its Autopilot technology before joining a Chinese self-driving car startup in January. Reuters reports: The engineer, Guangzhi Cao, copied more than 300,000 files related to Autopilot source code as he prepared to join China's Xiaopeng Motors Technology Company Ltd, the Silicon Valley carmaker said in the lawsuit filed in a California court. Separately, Tesla lawyers on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against four former employees and U.S. self-driving car startup Zoox Inc, alleging the employees stole proprietary information and trade secrets for developing warehousing, logistics and inventory control operations. The Verge reported on the lawsuit filed against Cao: Tesla says that last year, Cao started uploading "complete copies of Tesla's Autopilot-related source code" to his iCloud account. The company claims he ultimately moved more than 300,000 files and directories related to Autopilot. After accepting a job with XPeng at the end of last year, Tesla says Cao deleted 120,000 files off his work computer and disconnected his personal iCloud account, and then "repeatedly logged into Tesla's secure networks" to clear his browser history before his last day with the company. Tesla also claims Cao recruited another Autopilot employee to XPeng in February. Tesla claims that it gives XPeng "unfettered access" to Autopilot: "Absent immediate relief, Tesla believes Cao and his new employer, [XPeng], will continue to have unfettered access to Tesla's marquee technology, the product of more than five years' work and over hundreds of millions of dollars of investment, which they have no legal right to possess," the company's lawyers write.
Wiping your browser history and personal stuff is pretty standard before leaving a company, hardly suspicious.
If he did steal their tech then you have to wonder if it's worth it. They are years behind in this area, rolling back their promises and no longer talking about a timeline for it.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
I'd be more shocked if the Chinese could come up with something original. Chinese and Indians they're the same. They cheat, they steal and copy from US firms. And the fucking damning part is that the West is complicit in this by allowing these eastern fucktards to copy all the innovations. Congress is guilty because they have allowed US firms to offshore to China knowing full well the Chinese require those foreign firms to enter into partnerships with local companies (At least the Chinks are not utter idiots but we in the West are). Any idiot could have guessed what would happen and as the saying goes the rest is history.