Samsung Electronics received a license to test autonomous vehicles on public roads in South Korea, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport revealed on Monday, as reported by The Investor. The Seoul-based consumer electronics manufacturer thus received the same permission that the government recently issued to Naver, marking a new policy towards domestic tech giants that are currently in the process of developing self-driving vehicles and related technologies. The current administration in the Far Eastern country recently expressed concerns that their companies are falling behind in the global autonomous driving race, which is why testing licenses for self-driving solutions are now being distributed more freely, as much as due diligence in regards to public safety permits. Since Naver received the first license to test driverless vehicles on public roads in February, the Ministry of Land,
Since Naver received the first license to test driverless vehicles on public roads in February, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport approved almost 20 more licenses to other firms developing similar technology. While Samsung Electronics is the latest tech company to receive this license, it certainly won’t be the last, as more developers of autonomous driving solutions are expected to be authorized to test their prototypes on public roads in the coming weeks, industry watchers believe. The license obtained by Samsung refers to one particular self-driving vehicle that the South Korean company is currently developing, though few details on the thereof are currently available. Industry insiders previously claimed that the prototype in question is a modified version of an unspecified Hyundai model equipped with a broad range of Samsung-made cameras and other sensors.
Samsung’s prototype might utilize the company’s proprietary ARTIK Cloud Internet of Things (IoT) platform designed for car connectivity that the firm already started offering to traditional carmakers like Peugeot. Following a recent corruption scandal involving its Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee, Samsung Group announced its intentions to restructure its operations with the goal of streamlining them, but regardless, self-driving solutions seemingly aren’t something that the largest business conglomerate in South Korea is willing to ignore. More details on the company’s efforts to commercialize autonomous vehicles are expected to follow later this year.