The Chinese tech firm will sell off-the-shelf hardware to automate third-party cars.
Background: Baidu has an open tech platform for self-driving cars called Apollo, which allows developers to access training data and autonomy software for free.
What’s new: At a meeting in Beijing on Friday, Baidu said it will sell a range of hardware called Apollo Computing Units that will plug into cars to run its software.
Why it matters: Offering free software and charging for hardware is a savvy way to translate AI chops into profits. It could help Baidu out-Waymo Waymo. —Yiting Sun

A report by Online Trust Alliance says that the number of reported cyber incidents, from ransomware attacks to email hacks, doubled to 159,700 last year.
Big threat: Ransomware like WannaCry “far outweighs” other attacks, says OTA.
More to come: Expect surreptitious cryptocurrency mining to join it as a threat this year. OTA also says cloud services and IoT hardware still aren’t secure enough.
What to do: OTA says 93 percent of attacks were avoidable. “Equipping [users] to make good decisions can go a long way toward securing systems,” it adds.