Samsung, one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in the world, is all set to become a big player in autonomous driving. At
Frankfurt Motor Show, the company has announced a $300 million fund to help support young start-ups bringing more advanced technology into the connected cars market.
Along with the fund, the company is launching a new Autonomous/ADAS Strategic Business Unit (SBU) in a joint effort with HARMAN, the company that Samsung acquired earlier this year. The SBU will work on developing advanced technologies for safer, smarter, and connected vehicles. The SBU will work under the guidance of John Absmeier who has been appointed Senior VP of the unit.
Samsung’s president and Chief Strategy Officer, Young Sohn who is also the chairman of the Board of HARMAN, stated in a statement,
“The Autonomous/ADAS Strategic Business Unit and automotive fund reflect the company’s commitment to the values of open innovation and collaboration. In partnership with OEMs and startups, we will make the driver and passenger experience safer, more convenient, and more enjoyable.”
The company says that the Samsung Automotive Innovation Fund will focus on connected car and autonomous technologies, including smart sensors, machine vision, artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, connectivity solutions, automotive-grade safety solutions, security, and privacy. You can read the full
Press Release here.
Also, it indicates that the very first project with the fund will be
TTTech which is a leading enterprise dealing with functional safety, real-time systems, deterministic networking, and complex software integration for ADAS and an automated driving platform.
It is worth noting that the company has grabbed the licences for on-road testing of autonomous driving software and hardware under development in Korea and California. However, the company has made it clear that it will not be entering into car-manufacturing and would rather focus on working closely with automakers and innovators to grow next-gen innovative technology.
The smart vehicles industry has been a favorite spot for software firms like Google and Apple for quite some time. Now, with Samsung jumping on-board, it will be interesting to see how these giants shape the automobile world.