Samsung pledges $300M fund and a business unit for autonomous technology

Samsung Electronics, renowned for its Galaxy smartphones is making a bigger push into the self-driving car market. The company announced in a statement that it is setting a $300 million fund called the Samsung Automotive Innovative Fund and a dedicated business unit to develop autonomous technology.

The 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.

The business unit will be built inside Harman, the audio technology giant that Samsung acquired for $8 billion late last year. Samsung has established a new Harman Strategic Business Unit(SBU) which will be reporting to Harman's Connected Car Division.

"During this period of extraordinary transformation in the automotive industry, we are excited to play a leadership role in supporting and shaping the future of smarter, more connected vehicles," Young Sohn, president and chief strategy officer of Samsung, said in a statement.

The first investment of the Samsung Automotive Innovation Fund will be in TTTech, a leader in functional safety, deterministic networking, real-time systems, and complex software integration for ADAS and an automated driving platform.

Industry veteran John Absmeier has been appointed as the Senior Vice President of the new Harman SBU, and will also retain his current role as Vice President of Smart Machines for SSIC. As a leader in both the organizations, John Absmeier will ensure seamless collaboration to bring Autonomous and ADAS solutions to the market.