Nearly five years after fleeing to China, a former Apple engineer has been accused of stealing the company's self-driving car technology.

Weibao Wang, aged 35, has been accused by prosecutors of illicitly obtaining thousands of files containing proprietary information while covertly employed by an undisclosed Chinese company. The indictment includes six counts related to the theft or attempted theft of trade secrets. This marks the third instance where a former Apple employee has faced allegations of stealing autonomous technology secrets for China.

According to the Department of Justice, it is alleged that Mr. Wang stole documents that contained the source code for both the software and hardware components of the self-driving systems. He joined Apple in March 2016 and was part of the team responsible for developing technology related to autonomous systems. During his tenure, Mr. Wang signed a confidentiality agreement for the project, which was only known to a select few individuals within the company.

On April 16, 2018, Mr. Wang departed from Apple, as stated in the indictment. Unbeknownst to Apple, he had already accepted an offer over four months prior to join another company involved in the development of self-driving cars. The U.S. prosecutors revealed this information.

As per the prosecutors, the company involved, not named in the indictment, is based in China. In June 2018, law enforcement conducted a search of Mr. Wang's residence in Mountain View, California, while he was present.

Despite informing authorities that he had no intentions of leaving the United States, on the same day, Mr. Wang purchased a one-way ticket from San Francisco to Guangzhou, China, according to the Department of Justice. An examination of the devices confiscated from Mr. Wang's home revealed that he had stored substantial amounts of Apple data related to self-driving car technology.

During a press conference, Ismail Ramsey, the US Attorney for the Northern District of California, stated that Mr. Wang remains in China. If ever extradited and convicted, he could potentially face up to 10 years in prison for each of the six charges.

In previous instances, two additional former Apple employees have faced charges in similar cases concerning the theft of trade secrets.

Xiaolang Zhang, who was apprehended in 2018 while attempting to board a flight to China, pleaded guilty last year in a court located in San Jose, California.

Likewise, Jizhong Chen, another ex-Apple employee, is currently confronted with comparable charges.