Samsung Is Investing $300 Million In Automotive Technology

Samsung is very much aware of the hype of electronic and autonomous cars of late. So, the South Korean giant has launched a new unit dedicated to automotive technology and set up a $300 million fund to invest in promising startups in this industry #automagic

Now, don’t mistake Samsung for a future carmaker. The company doesn’t intend to manufacture vehicles, but rather play “a leadership role in supporting and shaping the future of smarter, more connected vehicles,” Young Sohn, president and chief strategy officer of Samsung, declared.

This likely means Samsung is interested in developing self-driving car technology and nothing else. Harman, the connected vehicle company that the electronics company bought this Spring, will lead these efforts. Its expertise regards car infotainment systems and “connected car-safety” technologies.

Samsung will bring extra help from Austria, though. They have made a first investment from the fund created in TTTech, a company focused on bringing safer cars to the road.

“Together we will build products to support new NCAP requirements, solutions for in-vehicle infotainment systems, and new scalable architectures to support fully autonomous vehicles across various industries,” stated Stefan Poledna, Member of the Board at TTTech.

 

Things should run smoothly for the South Korean manufacturer, especially since the company already has licenses to conduct on-road testing of autonomous technology and hardware both at home and in California.