June 13, 2025 – Tesla has recently taken legal action against a former engineer, Zhongjie “Jay” Li, accusing him of stealing confidential technology secrets from its “Optimus” humanoid robot project to establish a competing startup, as reported by Bloomberg.
The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday local time. According to the court documents, Zhongjie allegedly utilized Tesla’s research and development achievements in the field of “advanced robotic hand sensors” to found his startup, Proception. This new venture, which has received backing from Y Combinator, is dedicated to the development of robotic hand technology.
The complaint states that Zhongjie joined Tesla in August 2022 and left the company in September 2024. During his tenure, he used two personal mobile phones to download confidential materials related to the Optimus project.
It is further alleged in the lawsuit that towards the end of his employment, he frequently accessed information about robotic hands using the company’s computers and also conducted online searches for venture capital and startup funding opportunities.
“Within less than a week of his departure, Proception was officially registered. Just five months later, the company publicly announced that it had ‘successfully manufactured’ an advanced robotic hand that bore a striking resemblance to the version he had worked on at Tesla,” the complaint reads.
Proception’s official website states that the company aims to “revolutionize human-machine interaction by creating the world’s most advanced robotic hands.”
It has been learned from previous reports that since announcing the launch of the Tesla Bot project in 2021, Tesla’s “Optimus” robot initiative has encountered numerous setbacks. In 2022, the company had indicated that it would introduce the robot along with other new products in 2023, but the Optimus is still in the development phase.
In July 2024, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced plans to start selling the robot in 2026. However, during the “We, Robot” event in October of the same year, most of the Optimus robots on display were still being remotely operated by personnel outside the venue.
