Samsung Gets Approval For Self-Driving Car Trial In South Korea
Samsung has been given permission to start testing its self-driving cars on the roads in South Korea.
Samsung has received the green signal for testing its autonomous vehicles in South Korea. The South Korean government had approved Samsung's plans of venturing into the self-driving cars segment. The first vehicle test conducted by Samsung will be under a Hyundai car.
According to the Korea Herald, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport have given approval to Samsung to test autonomous cars in South Korea. However, details are limited about Samsung's plans for autonomous vehicles.
The report does note that Samsung will be using a "commercialized Hyundai vehicle equipped with the latest cameras and sensors." Samsung is planning to develop "top-of-the-line sensors and computer modules backed by artificial intelligence and the deep-learning technologies to improve cars' self-driving capabilities even in challenging weather conditions."
Samsung and Apple are the most recent applicants in the self-driving race, which is currently being led by the likes of Google and Uber. Google's Waymo and Uber are, locked in a heated lawsuit with the former alleging that the latter stole its proprietary information on Lidar technology, as reported by BBC.
While Samsung tests out its sensors with the Hyundai, Apple was also spotted testing its self-driving technology with a Lexus RX450h SUV on the streets of California. For which Apple had received a permit just last month, according to NDTV.
Today, companies like Mobileye and US chip maker Intel are forming alliances with automakers like BMW to seek new ways to merge technology and transportation. It will be interesting to see whether Samsung and Apple, who dominate the mobile sector, will be able to overcome the autonomous sector.
System failure and minor traffic violations continue to be major concerns for self-driving car manufacturers although, with improved technology, most barriers are slowly being overcome. Self-driving cars are said to begin running on roads over the next five years, by 2020-2021.
