It is surely one of Apple’s most ambitious projects and its code name deserves it: the titan project. This is the project of the American company dedicated to a future autonomous car. A project that generates curiosity but also envy among the competition. And some Apple employees are now being singled out for running away with company secrets about the project.
A few days ago, a new case was revealed in broad daylight. The facts date back to 2018, but only today has the American justice system report the event. Weibao Wang, a Chinese engineer working for Apple, is accused of stealing secret data after fleeing to China with information almost no one has access to.
Single ticket to China
Arriving at the company in March 2016, Weibao Wang decided at the beginning of April 2018 to resign. A fact that could have remained completely classic in a company until the revelation that turned the matter around: at the end of November 2017, some four months before his departure, the engineer accepted a full-time job in a company based in China and specialized in… driverless cars.
During this time, Weibao Wang had time to bypass some Apple computers to retrieve the data and put it on his personal hard drive. Unfortunately for Apple, the former employee failed local authorities by initially indicating that he had no intention of leaving the United States. Problem: he had already bought his one-way ticket to Guangdong, China. Therefore, it was impossible to locate the spy.
This is the third time that former Apple engineers are accused of espionage for the benefit of China, with each time a point in common: they all belonged to the division dedicated to a potential autonomous car of Apple. However, the two spies who preceded Weibao Wang have been found. One has pleaded guilty, the other sees his sentence being investigated. Weibao Wang now faces six charges, each punishable by ten years in prison. Extradition to the United States, however, seems unlikely.
Source: BFM TV
