Elon Musk’s Tesla is suing one in every of its former engineers for allegedly stealing commerce secrets and techniques associated to its extremely anticipated Optimus humanoid robotic.
The defendant is Zhongjie “Jay” Li, who cofounded the humanoid robotic startup Proception Inc. after working at Tesla from Aug. 2022 to Sept. 2024, in accordance with the criticism filed in San Francisco federal courtroom on Wednesday.
The lawsuit alleges Li, who labored on “advanced robotic hand sensors—and was entrusted with some of the most sensitive technical data in the program,” downloaded Optimus information onto two smartphones.
Li began Proception lower than every week after leaving Tesla and the startup claimed to have constructed humanoid robotic fingers with a “striking resemblance” to Optimus simply 5 months later.
“Rather than build through legitimate innovation, trial, and technical rigor, Defendants took a shortcut: theft,” the lawsuit says. “They misappropriated Tesla’s most sensitive materials, sidestepped the laborious process of development, and launched a company based not on original discovery, but on stolen work.”
Tesla is in search of unspecified “compensatory and exemplary damages” in opposition to Li, as properly an order barring Li and his associates from utilizing any of the corporate’s commerce secrets and techniques. The corporate additionally requested a jury trial within the case.
Proception relies in Palo Alto, Calif., in accordance with its LinkedIn web page. Li lists himself as founder and CEO of the startup, which he says is “tackling one of the most challenging and exciting humanoid projects of our time.”
Li didn’t instantly return a request for touch upon the lawsuit.
Within the go well with, Tesla’s attorneys mentioned that efficiently constructing a complicated robotic hand is “among the most challenging” duties in robotics.
“Although Tesla does not disclose the precise year-over-year investments in Optimus, the research and development costs are in the billions of dollars,” the lawsuit says. “Such an ambitious project demands unparalleled expertise and substantial time and financial commitment to achieve even incremental progress.”
Musk has repeatedly described Tesla’s Optimus robotic as key to the corporate’s long-term well being and development.
The billionaire particularly touted Optimus’s superior robotic hand in the course of the firm’s earnings name in January.
“My prediction long-term is that Optimus will be overwhelmingly the value of the company,” Musk mentioned on the time.
Bloomberg was first to report on the lawsuit.
