Tesla Settles Lawsuit Against Former Employee Over Autopilot Source Code

Tesla filed the lawsuit in 2019, saying its employee Cao Guangzhi, who worked at Tesla for two years, copied the source code before in January 2019 joining XMotors.

Tesla Inc has settled a lawsuit against a former employee who copied the source code of the electric vehicle (EV) maker's Autopilot technology, according to a U.S. district court filing dated April 15. Tesla filed the lawsuit in 2019, saying its employee Cao Guangzhi, who worked at Tesla for two years, copied the source code before in January 2019 joining XMotors, the U.S. unit of Chinese self-driving car startup Xpeng Inc. Terms of the settlement, which included a monetary payment made by Cao to Tesla, were not disclosed. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tesla's Autopilot is a driver assistance system that handles some driving tasks and allows drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel, though the company emphasises it still requires driver supervision and does not make the vehicle autonomous.