According to Engadget , former Apple software engineer Weibao Wang has been charged by a court in the Northern District of California (USA) with stealing self-driving car technology secrets from the iPhone maker to sell outside. Wang started working at Apple in 2016 as a member of the team developing hardware and software for self-driving systems - technology that Apple could bring to the self-driving cars they are developing.

The indictment alleges that Wang took a job in November 2017 at a subsidiary of a Chinese self-driving car developer but waited more than four months to notify Apple that he was leaving. After Wang left Apple in April 2018, the Justice Department said, the company discovered that he had “accessed a large amount of sensitive confidential and proprietary information” before leaving. The large amount of data taken from Apple was found during a law enforcement search of Wang’s Mountain View residence in June of that year. Wang told agents that he had no plans to travel, but flew back to China that night.

Wang has been charged with six counts of stealing or attempting to steal trade secrets. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count. However, that depends on whether officials can extradite Wang to the United States while he is still in China.

This is the third case of a former Apple employee being charged with stealing self-driving car technology trade secrets to sell to Chinese companies. Last year, Xiaolang Zhang, who worked at Apple at the same time as Wang, pleaded guilty to stealing technology from Apple's automotive division. Zhang was arrested at San Jose International Airport in 2018 while trying to board a flight to China.

In 2019, another former Apple employee, Jizhong Chen, was arrested before fleeing to China on charges of stealing self-driving car technology for a Chinese company. Chen has pleaded not guilty and the case is pending in federal court.