Baidu to Open Source Its Self-Driving Technology

[Batman_fan]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/baidu-to-open-source-its-self-driving-technology-1492566430

Baidu is in talks to use its technology with several Chinese, U.S. and German auto makers

SHANGHAI— Baidu Inc. BIDU 0.67% will share software technology it is developing for self-driving cars in a bid to catch up with competitors including General Motors Co. and Waymo, the self-driving unit of Google parent Alphabet Inc.

Baidu is betting that the value from autonomous vehicles is centered on collecting and processing data from riders, said Michael Dunne, president of Hong Kong-based Dunne Automotive, an advisory that facilitates auto-tech investments between the U.S. and China.

“In five to 10 years, autonomous-driving functions will be standard in the industry, just like power steering. Then, the value will come from the data in the car: what people do, where do they go,” Mr. Dunne said.

[Batman_fan]

lol

Just because Baidu has infrastructure to process huge amounts of data and generate insights, it bought self-driving technology and open source it to generate that data?

Is it trying to copy the Google Android open source model in early 2000s?