Former Apple Engineer Pleads Guilty to Stealing Apple Car Secrets

[MacRumors]

Former Apple employee Xiaolang Zhang today pleaded guilty to theft of trade secrets, which could get him up to ten years in prison, reports CNBC. Zhang was first hired by Apple in December 2015 to work on Project Titan, developing software and hardware for autonomous vehicles.

As part of the Compute Team, Zhang designed and tested circuit boards to analyze sensor data, and he was given access to Apple's secure and confidential internal databases. In April 2018, Zhang left Apple for Chinese startup XMotors, and shortly after, Apple found that he had stolen sensitive Apple Car development data and hardware.

In July 2018, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation charged Zhang with theft of trade secrets, and he was arrested shortly after for attempting to leave the country. Zhang this week took a plea bargain, which is under seal with the U.S. government.

Along with up to 10 years in prison, Zhang could have to pay up to $250,000 in fines. Sentencing is scheduled for November 14.

Article Link: Former Apple Engineer Pleads Guilty to Stealing Apple Car Secrets

 

[seanmills1020]

Zhang Ten! 🏄‍♂️

 

[AL2TEACH]

I wonder if he thinks the money/or whatever he received was worth it now?

 

[DocMultimedia]

Stealing junk secrets. Definitely a stupid thing to do. In 2056 it might be a real secret if the project is still under development.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Looks like he’ll be designing an Apple car in jail.

 

[hoodafoo]

Apple was so far behind in the auto-driving game, what could he have possibly stolen of value? Car color schemes?

 

[chickeneaster]

That's what he gets for stealing trade secrets! The money he got for stealing probably isn't worth it now; with the lawyer fees and the fine

 

[seanmills1020]

Apple was so far behind in the auto-driving game, what could he have possibly stolen of value? Car color schemes?

He stole secrets regarding Apple’s revolutionary self-driving technology.

AIRTIRES. 🚗

 

[Mr. Dee]

Idiot doesn’t even begin to describe this one. What he doesn’t even realize is going forward, any potential employees from the region will be intensely watched due to his actions.

 

[Hildy]

I cannot wait to see the notch in the new XMotor's windshield… However the revolutionary mag charger could be a pretty sweet addition.

 

[jinnj]

I cannot wait to see the notch in the new XMotor's windshield… However the revolutionary mag charger could be a pretty sweet addition.

Notch already exists... rear view mirror

 

[Ateam043]

Looks like he’ll be designing an Apple car in jail.

For his sake, he better hope he doesn’t design the train instead of a car because that’s what those inmates will be doing to him.

 

[mikethemartian]

He could only steal the secrets and not an actual car because it doesn’t exist yet.

 

[KurtMann]

The sad thing is that the man is burned and the secrets are out. There is no going back. Obviously this is a nefarious company. Who knows who is behind it and what they will do with the technology. I hope they at least payed well for ruining his life.

 

[MichaelAdam]

I read two news on this article
1. Apple is indeed developing an autonomous car
2. It’s been 8 years and still no sign of any product. As a comparison Tesla took 5 years to develop from scratch and launch its first car. 20 years later it has a complete lign of products, giga factory in various part of the world and model 3 / Y are best sellers in many countries. They didn’t have the means of Apple

 

[ponzicoinbro]

I wonder if he thinks the money/or whatever he received was worth it now?

Could have been worse.

Like some influencer stashing all these secrets in his shed and inviting friends and spies to read them all.

And then not admitting a thing when caught and using their influence to bully law enforcement and judges.

 

[sherwinzadeh]

Not to be racist... but reminds me of Silicon Valley

 

[_Spinn_]

Good, stealing trade secrets is a big deal.

 

[moodler]

No one else finds it jarring that the US Govt can *put someone in jail* for breaking an employment contract with a tech company?!

 

[sherwinzadeh]

@moodler It's probably criminal -- article says:

he had stolen sensitive Apple Car development data and hardware

 

[SD449]

Hopefully he’s active in the Jailbreak community

I’ll get me coat…

 

[amartinez1660]

That's what he gets for stealing trade secrets! The money he got for stealing probably isn't worth it now; with the lawyer fees and the fine

Well, just for fun: let’s say he got $10M from this XMotors company (that’s pocket change for such an endeavor), he pays $250K+fees, spends 10 years (maybe less with “good behaviour”), not using his own money all that time (since jail will maintain him)… he got $9M dollars left, and if put on some compounded interests endeavor potentially a whole lot more!

I don’t know you, but I know I won’t be having $10M+ in hand in the next 10 years (source: my previous 10 years say so).

Suddenly it’s looking like a deal for those willing to sacrifice years of their life that way 🤣

 

[ian87w]

I wonder if he thinks the money/or whatever he received was worth it now?

I'm going to generalize here, but many Chinese mainlanders have really strong patriotism to the motherland. So it might not even be about money. From their perspective, they're doing the right thing for the better of the motherland. Even some Chinese mainlanders who have been citizens of other countries (like the US) would still have strong patriotism to the mainland. Sometimes to a fault.

This is just a generalization from my part. It might not reflect the true motivation. But it's something to think about. Many Chinese are highly talented, especially in STEM, but many also have different set of core values than the usual western capitalism.

 

[Macalway]

I LOVE it when they get them trying to flee the country. That must be fun.

This guy went quietly I'm pretty sure LOL

 

[wilberforce]

No one else finds it jarring that the US Govt can *put someone in jail* for breaking an employment contract with a tech company?!

It is not just an employment contract, it is intellectual property, which is just as valuable as real property.
The US system is based on strong property rights and aggressive enforcement of them, and arguably one of the biggest contributors to US economic success. Countries with weak property rights often suffer economically.