The U.S. Justice Department has charged a former Apple engineer with trying to steal the company's technology related to self-driving cars.
;The engineer, identified as Weibao Wang, was indicted for allegedly stealing Apple's autonomous technology for a Chinese self-driving car firm.
- According to the indictment, Wang had access to Apple databases that were restricted to fewer than 3,000 of the company's 135,000 employees.
- In 2017, while still employed as a software engineer at Apple, Wang accepted a job at an unidentified Chinese company developing autonomous vehicles, according to the DOJ.
- Wang allegedly stole substantial quantities of sensitive commercial technology and source code from Apple to share with the Chinese firm.
- In June 2018, law enforcement searched Wang's California home and uncovered the stolen data. Wang managed to escape the country despite promising not to.
- He now faces six charges for stealing or attempting to steal Apple's autonomy source code, tracking systems, behavior planning for autonomous systems, and hardware descriptions.
- Wang is presently in China and could receive up to 10 years in prison per count if extradited and found guilty.