SHANGHAI—Baidu Inc. 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.

Open sourcing Baidu’s capabilities in functions such as route planning, vehicle control and operating systems will help Baidu and the autonomous-vehicle industry develop more rapidly, Baidu group President Qi Lu said in an interview.

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