Samsung to test self-driving cars on South Korean roads

Samsung won't be trying to get back into car manufacturing, however

Electronics giant Samsung, which once harboured ambitions of becoming a major car producer, has become the latest company to put self-driving vehicles on public roads.

It comes after the company was granted permission to start testing vehicles on public roads in South Korea.

Samsung first started to get into car-making in 1994 before the Asian financial crisis just a few years later knocked that on the head.

It is now looking to take on Apple, Google, Uber and others in developing autonomous vehicles, which it confirmed last year by scooping up in-car entertainment firm Harman for £6.4bn, in what marked the company's largest acquisition to date.

The firm's plans revved up a gear this week, with the South Korean government granting it permission to begin testing an autonomous vehicle on public roads.

That's according to the Korea Herald newspaper, which reports that Samsung has become the 20th company to receive approval to trial self-driving vehicles on South Korean roads.

Little is known about Samsung's plans, but the Korea Herald notes that the firm will be testing a commercialised Hyundai vehicle equipped with Samsung-developed cameras and sensors. These will e backed by artificial intelligence (AI) and the deep-learning technologies to improve cars' self-driving capabilities, "even in challenging weather conditions."

In a statement to Reuters, Samsung revealed that it wouldn't be building its own vehicle.

"We would like to clarify that the company has no plan to enter the car manufacturing business," a spokesperson said, adding that the vehicle will further its development of "deep learning algorithms for autonomous operations".

News of Samsung entering the autonomous vehicle biz comes just weeks after London received its first taste of self-driving vehicles.

Trials taking place in Greenwich have opened up, enabling Londoners to test out driverless shuttles.

The Borough is one of the government's main testing grounds for so-called smart-city technology, and a group of applicants are currently taking turns to ride the two mile riverside route, known as Olympian Way, on a path that passes near North Greenwich station, the O2 Arena, Farmopolis and Ravensbourne College, which relocated from Bromley to Greenwich in 2010.

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