"who are the most advanced". Any sources for this? As far as I'm aware none of their cars are on the road in the hands of customer.

Also a lot of this companies are betting on Lidar becoming magically cheaper. Buying a company doesn't necessarily mean they'll kill it. Big companies have a lot of politics and red tape before integrations can even happen. I was at MS when they bought Skype and later Nokia. Middle management blew the whole thing up.