Tesla sues Rivian for stealing secrets as electric car fight heats up

Enlarge / Rivian's R1T truck. (credit: Rivian)

Tesla has sued competitor Rivian for theft of trade secrets. Tesla says that around 70 people have left Tesla for Rivian-including 22 in the last four months. And Tesla claims that several of those employees took confidential documents with them on their way out the door.

Rivian has emerged as perhaps Tesla's most formidable rival among electric vehicle startups. The company announced a $2.5 billion round of fundraising earlier this month-on top of $2.85 billion raised last year. The company is working on a pickup truck, an SUV, and a delivery truck for corporate customers-all powered by batteries. Amazon, a Rivian investor, has already ordered 100,000 of Rivian's delivery trucks.

With a ton of work to do and billions in the bank, Rivian needs to hire at a rapid pace. Unsurprisingly, Tesla workers have been a prime target of Rivian's recruiters. Tesla says it respects Rivian's right to recruit Tesla employees, but it argues that Rivian hasn't been playing fair.

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