In recent years we have talked a lot about the plans of the Cupertino-based company to create an autonomous vehicle from scratch, plans that had to modify due to the complexity of the project, finally opting for create an autonomous driving system to sell to vehicle manufacturers.
In recent months, we have seen how the United States government maintains a crusade against various Chinese companies, especially against Huawei, accusing her of spying for the Chinese government, some statements that are giving the Asian company more of a headache in many countries, a company that collaborates with the government of their country, something that has not been denied at any time.
This week, the FBI indicted an Apple employee, originally from China, accusing him of robar trade secrets related to Apple's self-driving vehicle program, according to NBC. Investigations into this employee, named Jizhong Chen, began when another Apple employee saw him taking pictures "in a sensitive workspace."
Apple Global Security employees searched his personal computer and found thousands of Apple files, including manuals, schematics, photos, and diagrams, all of them related to the autonomous driving system in which Apple is working.
Chen had applied for a job at an autonomous vehicle company located in China, whose name has not been leaked. In a statement published by the company as a result of this incident, Apple assures that it takes the confidentiality and protection of its intellectual property very seriously, ensuring that they are working on this matter with the FBI, to which they are sending all the evidence that is have found so far.
It is not the first time that a company employee has been caught trying to steal secrets from Apple's autonomous driving system. Last July, the FBI accused Xiolang Zhang of stealing hardware and software trade secrets, which included prototypes and requirements for them.