Self-driving startup Zoox company revealed that four of its employees took confidential documents from their previous employer Tesla. A statement issued after the company settled a lawsuit this week over the issue.
Zoox said it acknowledges that specific persons among its new hires from Tesla were in possession of Tesla documents. These docs pertain to shipping, receiving, and warehouse procedures when they joined Zoox’s logistics team.
Zoox says it will pay Tesla an undisclosed amount of money and will conduct an audit. This is to ensure that no Zoox employee has retained or uses Tesla confidential information.
Zoox says it regrets the actions of those involved, and will also conduct enhanced confidentiality training. This is to ensure that all of its employees are aware of and respect their confidentiality obligations.
Founded in 2014, its plan has been to build self-driving vehicles from the ground up. And more purpose-built and far more maneuverable than traditional vehicles retrofitted with autonomous tech.
Many have praised its tech. Also, it has raised $500 million in July 2018 on the way to a $3 billion valuation. But just one month later, its board of directors replaced co-founder and CEO Tim Kentley-Klay with Aicha Evans. The new CEO was Intel’s former chief of strategy.
The settlement comes concurrently as Zoox has laid off around 100 employees and contract workers, amid COVID-19.
Tesla filed a lawsuit against Zoox and four Zoox employees in March 2019. All of whom had previously worked at Tesla.
The Silicon Valley automaker claimed that those employees brought proprietary information docs and trade secrets of Tesla to Zoox. It allegedly helped Zoox leapfrog past years of work to develop its own warehousing, logistics, and inventory control operations.
Mistake Email Led to the Discovery of Stolen Docs
Tesla said those employees who were involved absconded with select proprietary Tesla docs on their way to Zoox. The company called it a blatant and intentional act.
These ex-employees were specifically accused of stealing confidential information related to the company’s WARP system. It is a proprietary logistics software platform Tesla developed to oversee the manufacturing, warehousing, inventory, distribution, and transportation of products.
Tesla explained what sounded like fairly incriminating evidence of the theft in its lawsuit. It said that Scott Turner had emailed internal schematics and line drawings of the physical layouts of certain Tesla warehouses.
Turner, previously a manager at one of Tesla’s distribution centers before joining Zoox, sent this to his personal email address. He sent the email along with other docs that contained information about the company’s receiving and inventory procedures.
After Turner joined Zoox, Tesla alleged that he has given the startup names of at least four other Tesla employees. And with insights about their pay structure at Tesla.
Warehouse supervisor Christian Dement that Turner hired from Tesla, allegedly emailed four confidential documents. They were from his company account to his personal address with the subject Good Stuff.
The third employee, Sydney Cooper, supposedly admitted to sending the documents to Turner. After that, the fourth, Craig Emigh, mistakenly sent an email to Cooper’s old Tesla email address. It had a modified version of a proprietary Tesla docs attached.
Neither Zoox nor the four employees had officially disputed Tesla’s claims in court. Moreover, the evidence itself never surfaced before this week’s settlement.
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