In March, Tesla sued a former employee (Guangzhi Cao) who wanted to bring a compressed file containing the source code of its driving assistance system, Autopilot, into a Chinese auto start-up. Recently, the former employee admitted that he had transferred the compressed file to his iCloud at the end of 2018.
But he forgot to simply turn off the iCloud files and denied the allegations of stealing confidential information. Even after retirement, the company did not misappropriate the trade secrets related to autopilots and send them to Chinese companies.
Tesla said that this former employee was one of 40 people who had access to the autopilot source code. It claims that 300,000 files, including copies, were compressed, transferred to a personal iCloud, and imported to Xiaofeng Motors.
For models like the G3 and P7, Xiaofeng Motors is quite similar to the Tesla Model X and S. The similarities are similar for the G3’s center console, even with a vertical touch display. The vehicle is equipped with XPILOT, similar to Tesla’s advanced driver assistance system ADAS, Autopilot. In addition, the website has the same structure as Tesla.
However, regarding the similarities with Tesla, Xiaofeng Motors explains that it is because Tesla uses the open source EV patent in 2014. It is also said that it was because the company designed its products using Tesla EV’s reverse engineering knowledge.
In the same case last year, a former employee who was arrested for stealing large amounts of data related to Apple’s Project Titan autonomous driving admitted that he was planning to bring the data to a new employer, Xiaofeng Motors. Of course, Xiaofeng Motors denies involvement in employee behavior, saying that Tesla’s claims are suspicious and that it is only a natural flow of talent between the two companies. Related information can be found here .