Former Engineer From This TOP U.S. Tech Company Stole Proprietary 'Keys' to Self-Driving Cars And Turned The Tech Over To This Chinese Competitor

Sometimes, it's as simple as someone taking confidential information from one company and using it for their own gain at another company. This is exactly what former Apple employee Weibao Wang is accused of doing.

Wang, 35, was indicted by a federal grand jury in May for allegedly stealing confidential Apple material related to self-driving cars. He had joined Apple as a software engineer in March 2016 and worked on a team that developed hardware and software for autonomous systems.

After just a month, Wang left Apple and joined a startup owned by Baidu, a major Chinese technology company, where he allegedly continued to work on self-driving cars.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Northern District of California, Wang accessed large amounts of sensitive proprietary and confidential information from Apple in the days leading up to his departure.

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July 06, 2023

Even after leaving Apple, he continued to access more of their confidential information while working at Baidu's subsidiary, Jidu. A search of Wang's residence in June 2018 found "large quantities of data taken from Apple prior to his departure."

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The indictment against Wang includes six categories of trade secret theft. If found guilty, he could face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss resulting from the scheme for each count. However, Wang is currently in China, so the charges were made in absentia.

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This case highlights the potential dangers of industrial espionage and the risks of sensitive information falling into the wrong hands. It also raises concerns about the relationship between U.S. companies and their Chinese counterparts.

While Wang's current LinkedIn profile still lists him as an Apple employee, the U.S. attorney's office did not disclose the name of the Chinese company for whom Wang allegedly stole secrets. However, Reuters previously identified Wang as an executive of Jidu, Baidu's electric vehicle subsidiary.

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Industrial espionage is not limited to individual cases like Wang's. There have been instances where the U.S. government itself has been involved in sharing sensitive information with China.

For example, in 2015, then-President Barack Obama informed Congress that his administration had begun talks with China about providing them access to U.S. nuclear data. Additionally, there have been reports of President Bill Clinton selling missile technology to China.

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Under President Joe Biden's administration, there have been concerns about potential breaches of intelligence involving China.

One notable incident was the Chinese balloon that was able to drift across the American continent without any intervention. This raises questions about the effectiveness of intelligence and security measures in protecting sensitive information.