Tesla has filed a lawsuit against a former engineer, Zhongjie “Jay” Li, accusing him of stealing trade secrets related to its humanoid robot project, Optimus, and using them to launch a rival startup.
The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday and first reported by Bloomberg, alleges that Li misappropriated confidential data to build competing robotic hand technology at his new company, Proception.
Li, who worked at Tesla from August 2022 to September 2024, allegedly downloaded sensitive information about Tesla’s advanced robotic hand sensors onto two personal smartphones. According to the complaint, Li also conducted research on humanoid robotic hands and startup funding in the final months of his employment.
“Less than a week after he left Tesla, Proception was incorporated,” the lawsuit states. “And within just five months, Proception publicly claimed to have ‘successfully built’ advanced humanoid robotic hands—hands that bear a striking resemblance to the designs Li worked on at Tesla.”
Proception, which is backed by Y Combinator, describes itself as aiming to “revolutionize human-robot interaction” through the development of highly advanced robotic hands.
Tesla’s Optimus project, first announced in 2021, has faced delays and technical hurdles. Although CEO Elon Musk promised a market launch by 2026, the robot remains in development. During Tesla’s “We, Robot” event in October 2024, the showcased robots were still primarily controlled by humans remotely.
Tesla and Perception have not yet responded to requests for comment.
