Samsung all set to test self-driving cars on South Korean roads

While Uber and Waymo have already hit the roads to test their autonomous vehicles, Apple recently got an official permission to do the same. Now, another tech giant joins these titans as it recently got approval to test self-driving cars on public roads and it's none other than Apple's arch-rival Samsung.

According to The Korea Herald, Samsung was just recently approved by the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport to start testing its modified Hyundai test car, which is equipped with sensor and camera equipment needed to run Samsung’s software for autonomous driving.

Samsung is the first electronics company to receive government approval to test a driverless car on South Korean roads. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has previously granted approval to carmakers like Hyundai and Kia as well as academic and research institutions.

Also, in the past one year, South Korea has eased rules regarding autonomous vehicle testing. Companies can now test vehicles with just one human driver, where the rule when first implemented required at least two people on board during testing.

In 2015, Samsung announced that it was creating a new team to work on self-driving car technologies. The division was said to focus on components rather than building a complete car. Also, in January, executives from Samsung and Harman talked about plans to create an autonomous car platform that could be sold to car manufacturers.

Though Samsung and Apple that also recently got the permit to test self-driving cars in California, may be late entrants to self-driving car technology field but given their clout and humongous cash stockpile, they can surely change the rules of the game in next five years when autonomous vehicles hit the roads in full force.