Tesla Sues Rivian for Stealing Employees and Trade Secrets

When it comes to electric vehicles, Tesla has a sizable lead over the entire competition. Audi, for instance, admitted this week it’s two years behind the California-based automaker. So, naturally, those competitors would all like to replicate Tesla’s success.

Some of them may be going too far, though. Elon Musk’s company recently filed a lawsuit against EV startup Rivian. And the allegations are pretty serious.

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The latter is accused of poaching employees from Tesla and encouraging them to literally steal confidential information before leaving. The lawsuit mentions an “alarming pattern” of this.

Rivian currently employs around 1,000 people. According to reports, 178 of them have previously worked for Tesla including 70 that joined Rivian directly. Four individuals have been identified in the lawsuit.

Of course, Rivian is strongly denying these allegations, calling them “baseless.” It says it requires all new employees to confirm “that they have not, and will not, introduce former employers’ intellectual property into Rivian systems.” 

And speaking of Rivian, deliveries of its R1T electric pickup and R1S electric SUV have been pushed back once more. Through Electrek, we’ve learned that they are now scheduled to begin in June and August of 2021, respectively.

These vehicles will be built in Normal, Illinois at a former Mitsubishi assembly plant.