The autonomous driving industry has some legal complaints a week to report.
All complaints relate to the US, where the convictions can quickly take on exorbitant sums. So had Tesla announced the startup Zoox to sue and the survivors of the Uber-accident sue against US state Arizona and the city of Tempe.
Tesla vehicle
The first case, Tesla v. Zoox, is about the theft of trade secrets. Actually, it is even about several complaints that are directed to former employees of the startup: Scott Turner, Sydney Cooper, Christian Dement and Craig Emigh. This, it is the charge, is about warehouse management and logistics. Zoox, according to Tesla, would have known about the machinations and promoted them.
In addition, the Chinese electric car manufacturer Xiaopeng Motors (also called XMotors) complaints of Tesla into the house. Xiaopeng Motors has also become known because of a former Apple Angesteller Business secrets should have stolen in order to make a career there. Also in the complaint of Tesla is about this reproach. For example, Chinese-born Guangzhi Cao allegedly stole secrets regarding Tesla’s autopilot. He worked in this field and quit abruptly in January.
The company is not well disposed to Tesla because it would use open source patents from Tesla to harm Tesla. They would even imitate the design of Tesla to gain an advantage. Even the system autopilot would imitate Xiaopeng Motors. Currently, five former Tesla employees work for the Chinese company, which implies Cao. Tesla calls for the return of the technology.
In all cases, it is about theft of secrets of Tesla in terms of its technology. Zoox declined to comment and Xiaopeng Motors is aware of no guilt. They have even initiated an internal investigation.
Uber-accident and the lawsuit against Arizona and Tempe
Somewhat different is the case in which the survivors of the death victim of last March complain. At the time, an Uber car had hit a woman in Tempe, Arizona. Meanwhile it became known that Uber carries no guilt, but the test driver, which on her Smartphone a casting show had seen.
They are suing the state of Arizona and the city of Tempe, where the accident happened. The charge is negligence, as they allowed the test drives of the autonomous vehicles. It would be an unsafe business. In fact, the demands on companies in Arizona are much simpler than, for example, in California, Uber had already been with the Family of the victim agreed,
About David Flora
I’ve been writing about Autonomous & Connected Driving since 2011 and also talk about it on other sites like the Smart Mobility Hub. I studied social sciences at the HU Berlin and since 2012 I am a freelance journalist. Contact: mail@autonomes-fahren.de