Samsung Invests $300 Million in Automotive Fund; Its Harman Ups ADAS Efforts
Samsung announced a $300 million investment in its new Automotive Innovation Fund, focused on smart sensors, machine vision, artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, connectivity, safety, security and privacy for connected cars and autonomous vehicles. Harman, which it bought in March for…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
$8 billion, established an autonomous/ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems) business unit reporting to Harman’s connected car division, it said Thursday. John Absmeier, Autonomous/ADAS strategic business unit vice president-smart machines, also will lead the Harman unit as senior vice president-Harman SBU. The fund's first investment is TTTech, a networked safety control company, focused on transportation including ADAS and autonomous driving. Samsung “will not enter the car-manufacturing business,” said Samsung, saying it will focus on working with carmakers and mobility companies to develop next-generation automotive technology. The company is licensed for on-road testing of autonomous driving software and hardware under development in Korea and California, it said. Harman will eliminate 650 positions in the U.S. and Europe and shut facilities over the next year in Elkhart, Indiana; South Jordan, Utah; and smaller offices in Europe that came under the Harman umbrella through acquisitions, a spokesman confirmed.