Chinese EV maker Xpeng has been in hot water since 2019 after tesla accused the company of stealing its autopilot source code through an ex-Tesla employee named Guangzhi Cao. It is alleged that Cao uploaded all the important Autopilot source code from Tesla over AirDrop and onto a personal device before selling it to Xpeng and subsequently joining the company. After filing a lawsuit against Cao, Tesla asked for proof that Xpeng’s XPilot source code doesn’t have any Tesla content.
Electrek has now revealed via a tipster as to how Xpeng is looking to mimic the design of the Tesla website. This is something that several companies have done in some form, although the inspirations that Xpeng takes from Tesla doesn’t stop here.
For instance, in one of Xpeng’s most recent SUVs, it was discovered that the autopilot user interface was exactly the same as on Tesla’s vehicles. The Xpeng website (pictured above) showcases the company’s latest P7 EV sedan boasting of features like XPilot 3.0 and XMart OS. This vehicle is also known as a Tesla clone in several quarters, and with good reason.
Interestingly, after Tesla announced that it would open-source its patents a few years ago, Xpeng was reportedly one of the first to request a patent from the company. Tesla later clarified that this will only apply to manufacturers who use it in good faith and has also mentioned that it will take legal recourse for intellectual property infringement in the form of blatant copying of design and other attributes. It will be interesting to see if Xpeng will respond to the fresh allegations leveled by Tesla.
Via: Electrek
