Tesla Motors sues former director of its Autopilot programme Chris Urmson

Tesla Motors Inc has taken former director of its Autopilot programme to court accusing him of taking confidential information about the company's driver-assist system and trying to recruit at least a dozen former colleagues to a new startup.

Sterling Anderson started work on the new autonomous-car venture, Aurora Innovation LLC, last summer, before his departure from the company in December, Tesla alleged yesterday. Anderson had been collaborating with Chris Urmson, the former head of Google's self-driving car project, according to a complaint filed in state court in San Jose, California.

The electric-car maker is seeking a court order barring Anderson, Urmson and Aurora Innovation from recruiting Tesla employees and contractors for one year after Anderson's termination date.

The Palo Alto, California-based company also has also called for an order blocking any use of Tesla's proprietary information related to autonomous driving. Urmson and Anderson had not announced their startup prior to the lawsuit.

According to commentators, the litigation highlighted a trend of voracious demand for automotive engineers working on self-driving cars, especially within the Silicon Valley region. Small startups including Cruise Automation and Otto had been snapped up by General Motors Co and Uber Technologies Inc, while new entrants including Zoox were winning licenses to test autonomous vehicle prototypes on California roads.

The lawsuit filed by Tesla in California state court alleged that Anderson stole "hundreds of gigabytes of data" including sensitive company information for Aurora Innovation.

The lawsuit identified Urmson as a "business partner" of Anderson's at Aurora Innovation, and alleged that the duo collaborated on "Tesla premises" using Anderson's Tesla-issued laptop.

"Tesla's meritless lawsuit reveals both a startling paranoia and an unhealthy fear of competition. This abuse of the legal system is a malicious attempt to stifle a competitor and destroy personal reputations. Aurora looks forward to disproving these false allegations in court and to building a successful self-driving business," Aurora wrote in a statement to Business Insider.