“Tesla has withdrawn its claims, without damages, without attorney’s fees, and without any finding of wrongdoing,” Aurora Innovation LLC said in an emailed statement. Aurora agreed to reimburse the cost of an audit to “demonstrate the integrity” of its intellectual property.

The agreement hasn’t yet been filed in court. Tesla confirmed in an emailed statement that the lawsuit has been settled and said it’s been paid $100,000.

Tesla sued Anderson in January, alleging he breached his contract by forming a competing self-driving car startup with Chris Urmson, the former head of Google’s self-driving car program, and recruiting engineers away from the company led by Elon Musk. Anderson managed Autopilot’s hardware and software teams and helped steer Tesla through a regulatory probe involving a driver who died in a Model S sedan using the system last year.

“Under the settlement, Mr. Anderson’s contractual obligations to Tesla will remain in place and will also be extended to Aurora, with additional specific protections being added to ensure there are no further violations,” Tesla said in its statement. “The settlement also establishes a process to allow Tesla to recover all of the proprietary information that was taken from the company, and it provides for Aurora’s computer systems to be subject to ongoing audits to monitor for any improper retention or use of Tesla’s property.”

Leading Aurora

Anderson and Urmson, who left Google in August, now co-lead Aurora Innovation, which Tesla named in its complaint filed in January. Three engineers from the Autopilot group initially decided to join Aurora, though one later changed his mind, Tesla said in the Jan. 26 complaint.

Tesla filed its lawsuit in the midst of intense competition within Silicon Valley for autonomous-driving engineers and spoke to the threat established tech companies face when executives with experience leading teams want to move on.

In California, 30 companies have been issued autonomous-vehicle testing permits from the state’s department of motor vehicles. The ranks include established automakers Ford Motor Co. and BMW AG; suppliers Robert Bosch GmbH and Delphi Automotive Plc; startups including Zoox Inc. and Nuro Inc.; and most recently tech behemoth Apple Inc.

Google’s self-driving car project, now called Waymo, sued Uber Technologies Inc. in February. Waymo alleges Anthony Levandowski, a former engineer, stole laser-scanning system designs and technology and started a new company that Uber acquired last year.

/Bloomberg/

More about: #Tesla