The U.S. Department of Justice has charged a former Apple software engineer for allegedly stealing valuable technology related to autonomous vehicles. The indictment accuses Weibao Wang of relaying Apple"s proprietary information to an unidentified Chinese company involved in self-driving car development.
Wang, who joined Apple"s annotation team in 2016, had been granted significant access to the company"s databases. According to the indictment, Wang worked for Apple for approximately one year before submitting his resignation notice in April 2018. He failed to disclose his plans to the supervisor during his exit interview.
The investigation into Wang"s activities was revealed in November 2017, more than four months before he resigned. However, he had already accepted a job offer from a Chinese-based company. Additionally, Apple representatives discovered that Wang had accessed databases containing sensitive and confidential information regarding the software used in their autonomous systems.
Subsequent searches conducted at Wang"s residence in California uncovered personal devices preventing a significant amount of data taken from Apple before his departure. The indictment revealed that Wang"s PC contained various proprietary materials related to the autonomous systems project.
Weibao Wang now faces six separate counts related to the alleged theft of Apple"s data, including critical components such as the entire autonomy source code, tracking, and behavior planning for autonomous systems. If extradited from China and found guilty on all counts, Wang could face up to ten years in prison for each offense.
This case is the latest in a series of incidents involving former Apple employees allegedly stealing trade secrets related to autonomous vehicle technology and supplying them to Chinese entities.
Source: The Guardian