On August 23, XPeng Motors responded to a former Apple employee who pleaded guilty to trade secret theft charges. The company said that the case has been going on for more than four years, XPeng did not know the details and has not involved in the US judicial investigation of the case. XPeng also has no dispute with Apple and no connection with the case. Zhang Xiaolang, a former Apple engineer, pleaded guilty Monday in a federal court in San Jose, California to a criminal charge of stealing Apple's self-driving trade secrets before hopping to XPeng. Previously, Mr. Zhang was accused of downloading internal documents totaling 25 pages about Apple's auto project including a schematic of a car circuit board.