Trading secrets?

Tesla is suing a former employee who is alleged to have stolen trade secrets in connection with technology for autonomous driving. A former Apple employee was also charged with stealing trade secrets by the FBI last year. 

In both cases, the trail apparently leads to the Chinese electric car startup Xiaopeng Motors (short: XPeng). Xpeng’s BEV debut last year with the G3 at the CES also is somewhat reminiscent of Tesla, although there were also several open-source patents used in development.

Update 19.04.2021: Tesla sued a former employee two years ago for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to autonomous driving technology and passing them on to Chinese e-car competitor Xpeng. Now, based on a comparison of the source codes by an independent third party, it is clear that Tesla’s accusation was unfounded. The legal dispute has therefore been settled.

theverge.com, update: insideevs.com