特斯拉撤回了對其Autopilot團隊前專案經理斯特林·安德森（Sterling Anderson）以及他與谷歌前高管克裡斯·厄姆森（Chris Urmson）共同建立的公司Aurora Innovation提起的嚴厲訴訟。

根據和解協議，極光將向特斯拉支付10萬美元（對於特斯拉這樣一家價值10億美元的公司來說，這隻是微不足道的一筆錢），並允許特斯拉聘請一名獨立審計師，在極光的系統中搜尋特斯拉的機密資訊，這些資訊隨後將被銷毀或返還給特斯拉。Aurora將聘請自己的審計師來搜尋相同的資訊，並將這些資訊提供給特斯拉。安德森在媒體上的一篇文章中表示，10萬美元的付款是為了支付特斯拉的審計費用。

安德森和奧羅拉還將繼續遵守安德森與特斯拉現有的不招攬協議，並承諾不會招攬特斯拉的員工或承包商離開該公司一年。

儘管粗略地看一下，特斯拉從最初的訴訟檔案（特斯拉在宣告中聲稱的東西）中得到了大部分想要的東西，但有兩件事很突出：

首先，考慮到特斯拉指控安德森竊取特斯拉的機密資訊並銷毀證據掩蓋他的行蹤，以及試圖挖走他的新企業的一些員工，10萬美元不是一大筆易手的錢。第二，和解條款不包括在保密條款中，這是許多訴訟和解的共同要求。

如果特斯拉對安德森、被盜檔案和偷獵員工的指控是完全準確的話，人們會奇怪為什麼公司會為了這麼小的一筆錢撤銷訴訟。

即便如此，兩家公司都聲稱自己獲勝。以下是特斯拉的觀點：

Tesla’s lawsuit against Mr. Anderson, Mr. Urmson, and Aurora has been settled. Under the settlement, Mr. Anderson’s contractual obligati*** to Tesla will remain in place and will also be extended to Aurora, with additional specific protecti*** being added to ensure there are no further violati***. 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. Finally, $100,000 was paid to Tesla.

極光發言人發表的宣告反映了公司對這種情況的截然不同看法：

Delivering on a lofty vision is hard; in late January 2017 it got harder. Tesla filed a meritless lawsuit against us, supported by an aggressive public relati*** effort. Disappointed, but determined to defend our integrity, we immediately commissioned a comprehensive forensics audit that proved what we already knew to be true: (1) no material Tesla confidential information exists on our personal computers or company systems, and (2) there is no evidence that anyone at Aurora has used or has access to Tesla confidential information.

Today, less than three months after filing (and even before we were permitted to file a resp***e) Tesla has withdrawn its claims, without damages, without attorney’s fees, and without any finding of wrongdoing. We have even agreed to reimburse the cost of a future audit to dem***trate the integrity of Aurora’s intellectual property.

In spite of this distraction, we’ve made great progress this last few months and are excited to now focus all of our energy on making transportation safer and better for all. We’ve been developing self-driving vehicles since long before it was trendy, and remain committed to bringing this important technology to market with the right team, doing things the right way.

極光仍處於祕密狀態，由於不再被起訴，以後可能會有更多的資訊可以分享。