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Tesla’s lawsuit against Rivian takes crazy turn

Credit: Teslarati

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Tesla’s lawsuit against Rivian, alleging the competing automaker of stealing trade secrets, has taken a crazy turn.

A tentative ruling issued by Judge Theodore C. Zayner of the Santa Clara County Superior Court denied Rivian’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit after the EV maker requested to have it thrown out.

However, Judge Zayner said Tesla presented sufficient evidence to have a legitimate case against Rivian, and after four years of the legal process taking its time, the two companies will head to court.

“Tesla’s evidence establishes that some Rivian employees were less thoroughly investigated and not disciplined,” Judge Zayner wrote in the tentative order, according to Reuters.

Back in 2020, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Rivian after the company noticed an “alarming pattern” of poaching employees. CEO Elon Musk said in an interview with Automotive News after being asked if Rivian was poaching workers:

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“Yeah, absolutely. Of course. I mean it’s not like a massive percentage, but they’ve definitely taken a bunch of Tesla’s intellectual property…It’s not cool to steal our IP, and for people to violate their confidentiality agreements…that kind of thing . They’re doing bad things, so we sued them.”

Tesla’s Elon Musk talks Rivian lawsuit, “They’re doing bad things, so we sued them”

An initial complaint filed by Tesla claimed that a former Senior Staffing Manager for Tesla, Tami Pascale, “took at least ten confidential and proprietary documents from Tesla’s network, which would allow Rivian to poach Tesla’s highest-performing talent and promising employment prospects.”

Rivian denied the allegations, but it appears Tesla has enough evidence to push the case forward. A final hearing is set for today.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

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Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla Supercharger Network is so reliable, it’s pushing Model Y sales

Tesla’s Supercharger network is proving to be a key factor in the company’s dominance in several key markets.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla’s Supercharger network is proving to be a key factor in the company’s dominance in several key markets. These include Norway, which has become a place of strength for the new Model Y. 

This was hinted at by Tesla’s Director of Charging, Max de Zegher, on social media platform X.

Supercharger network sets the industry standard

As noted by the Tesla executive, the Model Y accounted for 29% of all vehicle sales in Norway in September. Part of the vehicle’s success was likely due to the reliability of the Supercharger Network, which is class leading even in Norway, where 98% of new cars sold are electric.

De Zegher emphasized on X that Tesla Superchargers are still in a class of their own. An EPSI survey of nearly 1,500 Norwegian EV drivers supported his claim, as Tesla Superchargers retained first place in customer satisfaction for the fifth consecutive year. 

The EPSI Survey‘s results

Respondents to the EPSI survey praised the Supercharger network’s strong uptime, abundant capacity, and user-friendly digital solutions, placing it ahead of other operators such as Uno-X. Survey researchers highlighted that Tesla has set the standard when it comes to simplicity in the charging process.

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Drivers also cited competitive pricing and seamless plug-and-charge functionality as major reasons they prefer Tesla’s network, especially in Norway’s extreme winter conditions where reliability is critical.

“Tesla has set the standard for simplicity in the charging process. Combined with competitive prices, this means that many electric car drivers say they are likely to choose Tesla again the next time they need to charge,” EPSI noted in a post.

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Tesla top exec Tom Zhu highlights Elon Musk’s “prime directive” for FSD

Zhu’s comments emphasize Tesla’s uncompromising focus on safety, which has made the company’s vehicles among the safest on the road.

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Credit: Tesla AI/X

Tesla Senior Vice President for Automotive Tom Zhu, a key executive behind the company’s success in China and Giga Texas, recently highlighted the “prime directive” of Full Self-Driving (FSD).

Zhu’s comments emphasize Tesla’s uncompromising focus on safety, which has made the company’s vehicles among the safest on the road.

Echoing Musk’s vision for safe autonomous driving

Zhu’s post quoted Musk’s statement from 2021, where the CEO reportedly stated that FSD must avoid accidents even if the most ridiculous events happened in the middle of the road. Zhu stated that beyond everything, Tesla’s systems like Autopilot and FSD are designed to keep passengers safe.

“Elon said it in 2021: “For self-driving, even if the road is painted completely wrong and a UFO lands in the middle of the road, the car still cannot crash and still needs to do the right thing. The prime directive for the autopilot system is: Don’t crash. That really overrides everything. No matter what the lines say or how the road is done, the thing that needs to happen is minimizing the probability of impact while getting you to your destination conveniently and comfortably,” Zhu stated.

“The prime directive, the absolute priority, is to minimize the probability of injury to yourself or to anyone on the road, to pedestrians, or anything like that. It can’t be dependent on the road markings being correct.”

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Tesla leadership rallies behind global FSD rollout

Tom Zhu, who previously led Tesla China through its record-breaking growth phase, now oversees automotive operations worldwide. He has reportedly become a problem solver for Elon Musk over the years, with previous reports stating that he was brought in to help Giga Texas optimize its vehicle production ramp.

Zhu’s comments may sound ambitious, but FSD has proven that it values safety above all else over the years. This was highlighted recently in an incident in Australia, when a Model Y was hit by what could very well be a meteor. Despite the impact and part of its windshield melting, the vehicle was able to drive safely and keep its passengers safe.

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Elon Musk

Elon Musk’s biggest tech rival just canceled his Tesla Roadster

“I really was excited for the car! And I understand delays. But 7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait,” Altman said.

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Tesla Roadster at Tesla Battery Day 2020 Credit: @BLKMDL3 | Twitter

Elon Musk’s biggest tech rival just canceled his reservation for a Tesla Roadster, the supercar the company has been developing for nearly eight years.

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, announced on X on Thursday evening that he canceled his Tesla Roadster reservation, or at least is trying to:

Altman placed his Tesla Roadster reservation with a $50,000 deposit way back on July 11, 2018. However, he recently decided that he had waited long enough and decided to email the company to officially cancel the order.

“Hi, I’d like to cancel my reservation. Could you please refund me the $50k?” Altman emails to reservations@tesla.com.

He then received an immediate response, but not from Tesla. Instead, it was a bounce-back message from Google, stating that the message could not be delivered to the email because it was not active.

Altman then provided a reason for his cancellation, and it was not related to the intense rivalry he had with Elon Musk:

“I really was excited for the car! And I understand delays. But 7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait.”

Altman and Musk have a lengthy history with one another that dates back to 2015, when OpenAI was created. The feud has resulted in lawsuits over breaching founding agreements by prioritizing profits.

Musk has been especially critical in recent years because of Altman’s decision to turn OpenAI into a for-profit business that he says is “built on a lie.”

This year, Musk offered over $97 billion to buy OpenAI, and a judge blocked his request to stop the company from being converted into a for-profit in March.

OpenAI then countersued Musk in April, while xAI, Musk’s company, sued OpenAI for allegedly stealing secrets through poached employees in September.

Elon Musk explains why xAI sued OpenAI over alleged trade secret theft

Regarding the Roadster, Tesla has been developing it for several years and has delayed its release for five consecutive years. The company says it will have a demo of what it has changed since it was unveiled in 2017 later this year, but no date has been set quite yet.

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