Tesla reportedly sued a former engineer, saying he illegally transferred confidential information about supercomputer technology to his computer and handed over a "fake" laptop for inspection to cover up his theft Tesla is currently developing an internal supercomputer. The project, called project Dojo, will be used to process a large amount of data, including videos from Tesla cars, and use it to create automatic driving software.
Tesla said in the indictment that the former engineer named Alexander yatskov was hired as a thermal engineer in January to help design the cooling system of the computer because the computer generates a lot of heat.
"These thermal designs and data are confidential and strictly protected within Tesla," Tesla said
Tesla said that after being questioned, yateskov admitted downloading confidential information from Tesla devices to personal devices. The company said he handed over a "fake" computer for Tesla to check in an attempt to cover up his whereabouts.
Tesla said in the indictment that yateskov resigned on May 2 and refused to return the information.
When the media contacted yateskov by telephone, he said he was not aware of the prosecution and declined to comment immediately.
Tesla also accused yateskov of lying about his professional knowledge and work experience in his resume and said he had violated a confidentiality agreement prohibiting the disclosure of trade secrets.
Tesla said: "this is a case about an employee who illegally obtained trade secrets. During his short time at Tesla, the employee has shown a record of lying, and then tried to cover up his trace by providing a 'fake' device, so as to lie again."
Tesla is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as orders to prevent yateskov from spreading his trade secrets and ask him to return all proprietary data.