Tesla developing in-house supercomputer technology, according to lawsuit against ex-engineer

Tesla Inc. sued a previous engineer proclaiming he illegally transferred private information and facts on its supercomputer know-how to his very own computer system and turned in excess of a “dummy” notebook for inspection to include up the theft.

Tesla is acquiring an in-property supercomputer, dubbed Job Dojo, to deal with substantial amounts of details, like video clip from Tesla automobiles, and applying it to develop autonomous driving program. Alexander Yatskov was employed in January as a thermal engineer to help style and design cooling systems for the computer system, which generates a whole lot of heat, Tesla said in the complaint.

“These thermal patterns and knowledge are private and tightly guarded in Tesla,” the electric-car maker claimed.

But Tesla claimed Yatskov admitted to downloading confidential info from his Tesla equipment to his private devices, following he was confronted. He turned in excess of a “dummy” pc for inspection by Tesla to test and deal with his tracks, the company said.

Yatskov stop on May possibly 2 and has refused to return the info, Tesla explained in the criticism.

When arrived at by cellular phone, Yatskov reported he was not mindful of the complaint and declined to immediately remark on it.

Tesla also accused Yatskov of lying in his resume about his knowledge and function encounter. He also breached a non-disclosure settlement that barred him from disclosing trade strategies, Tesla mentioned.

“This is a circumstance about illicit retention of trade tricks by an worker who, in his small time at Tesla, previously shown a keep track of file of lying and then lying once more by offering a ‘dummy’ system to try out and include his tracks,” Tesla said in its complaint.

Tesla is trying to get compensatory and exemplary damages and an order that would halt Yatskov from disseminating its trade strategies and direct him to return all proprietary info.

The case is Tesla Inc. v. Yatskov, 5:22-cv-02725, U.S. District Court docket, Northern District of California (San Jose).