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| Ex-Apple engineer admits stealing Apple car secrets |
A former Apple employee named Zhang Xiaolang pleaded guilty today to stealing trade secrets, which could carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, according to CNBC.
Zhang was first hired by Apple in December 2015 to work on Project Titan to develop software and hardware for self-driving cars.
As a member of the Compute team, Zhang designed and tested circuit boards to analyze sensor data and was given access to Apple's secure and confidential internal database. In April 2018, Zhang left Apple for Chinese startup XMotors shortly after Apple discovered that he had stolen development and hardware data from the Apple Car.
In July 2018, the FBI charged Zhang with stealing trade secrets and he was arrested shortly after for trying to leave the country. This week, Zhang and the US government reached an agreement with prosecutors.
In addition to a maximum of 10 years in prison, Zhang could also face a fine of up to $250,000. Sentencing has been set for November 14.