Samsung forms unit to house and fund self-driving car technology
New York — Samsung Electronics is upping its $8bn bet on automotive technology, forming a separate business unit within Harman International to house autonomous driving products and ploughing $300m into a new fund investing in start-ups in this space. The autonomous driving unit will compete on everything from driving algorithms to systems integration, Dinesh Paliwal, Harman’s CEO, said in a phone interview. This will include an advanced-driver assistance platform with open software that allows outside engineers to build products on it — a shot at Mobileye, which was acquired by Intel this year in a move that mirrored Samsung’s automotive leap. "Our industry is literally screaming, saying, ‘We love Mobileye but we need an open platform’," Paliwal said. "Competition is the best thing ever. The automotive industry wants us to do it and we think we have the capacity and the fuel power." The South Korean smartphone maker, which snapped up US-based Harman last year for $8bn to elbow its ...
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