Former Apple hardware engineer Xiaolang Zhang will have time to think in prison after being found guilty of stealing self-driving car technology. Zhang was arrested before boarding a flight to China in 2018, denying the allegations of stealing Apple’s trade secrets. However, he later pleaded guilty in 2022. In addition to the six-month prison sentence, Zhang was fined a hefty sum of $146,984, as reported by 9to5Mac.
Zhang was part of the team believed to be working on Apple’s secret car project, codenamed Project Titan. He was found guilty of transferring a 25-page document containing engineering schematics for a self-driving vehicle’s circuit board to his wife’s laptop via AirDrop.
In addition to these files, Zhang saved technical manuals describing Apple’s prototype on the same device and was found guilty of physically stealing sensitive items from Apple’s development labs, including circuit boards and a Linux server.
After the birth of his child in 2018, Zhang informed Apple that he would be leaving to work for XPeng Motors, a major EV manufacturer in China. Given his involvement in the hardware team working on Apple’s car project, this move raised suspicion, triggering an investigation as XPeng Motors is developing autonomous driving technology, similar to Apple’s rumored efforts.
During the investigation, surveillance footage revealed that Zhang secretively removed hardware items from Apple’s labs and transferred files to his wife’s computer just before leaving the company. According to the latest reports, Zhang will surrender by June 19 to begin his prison sentence in San Jose, California, where he will undergo supervised release for at least six months.
Apple has been working on its car project (internally known as Project Titan) for nearly a decade, as confirmed by reputable sources, including Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. This project is expected to yield actual results in at least four to five years. Initially, Project Titan aimed to build a fully autonomous vehicle.
However, a recent report by Mark Gurman indicates that Apple has shifted its focus to developing an electric vehicle (EV) to compete with industry leaders like Tesla and Rivian and other legacy car manufacturers like Ford and GM.
