Zoox Inc said it had settled a lawsuit with Tesla Inc after confessing that some new hires from the electric automaker were in possession of certain Tesla documents when they joined the self-driving car startup.
Tesla lawyers filed a lawsuit in March 2019, against four former workers and Zoox, accusing the workers of stealing proprietary information and trade secrets for developing warehousing, logistics and inventory control tasks.
Zoox said the settlement needed them to pay Tesla an undisclosed amount and undergo an audit to make sure that none of its workers had retained or are using Tesla’s confidential information.
“Zoox acknowledges that certain of its new workers from Tesla were in possession of Tesla documents pertaining to shipping, receiving, and warehouse procedures when they joined Zoox’s logistics team,” said Zoox.
Several companies are on their way to develop the technology required to make cars drive on their own and lawsuits against ex-workers are common as firms strive to retain proprietary information in-house.
By May 2016, Zoox was valued at more than $1 billion.
In December 2018, Zoox became the first company to win approval for offering self-driving transport services to the public in California.
