Hyperdrive
Tesla Accuses Billionaire’s Engineer of Stealing Tech Secrets
- Xpeng Motors is center of trade-secrets lawsuits by Tesla
- Tesla and Xpeng building electric-car factories in China
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He sold his internet company for billions of dollars and then bet on an electric-vehicle startup, posting about it frequently on social media. He owns shares of Tesla Inc., drives its cars and is building a factory in China.
But he’s not Elon Musk. Instead, Chinese billionaire He Xiaopeng is the target of Musk’s ire, and his company, Xpeng Motors, is at the center of separate trade-secrets lawsuits filed by Tesla and Apple Inc. Tesla accused one of its ex-engineers of stealing confidential autopilot information before bolting to a job at XPeng, where He is chairman.