Samsung to create 300-mln-USD fund for autonomous driving, connected car

Samsung Electronics, South Korea's tech behemoth, said Thursday that it will create a fund of 300 million U.S. dollars to invest in technologies of autonomous driving and connected car.

The Samsung Automotive Innovation Fund will be formed to strengthen the business of electronic parts used for automobiles, Samsung said in a press release.

The fund will focus on investment in technologies of driverless driving and connected car, including smart sensors, artificial intelligence, connectivity solution and security.

It will make its first strategic investment of 75 million euros (90 million U.S. dollars) into TTTech, a global leader in technologies of autonomous driving platform and the advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) technology.

Separately, Harman International Industries, acquired by Samsung earlier this year, established a strategic business unit to focus on the development of autonomous driving and ADAS technologies.

Samsung recently secured licenses for on-road testing of driverless driving software and hardware in South Korea and California of the United States.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)