Yes, the data and the algorithms don't really matter unless you have the right product. Otto apparently was a group of Googlers who thought the product was wrong, and went for the narrower self-driving trucks market (before being acquired).

I imaginne that the winner of the self-driving car race will be determined by the product and not the technology per se. Tesla, Google, Uber, comma.ai, etc. all have quite different conceptions of what the product is.