Samsung Announces Plans To Make Self-Driving Car Parts

It’s hard to find an automaker or technology company that isn’t involved in some way with self-driving car development. Now, Samsung is the latest to announce the creation of a new team to work on self-driving car technologies.

Samsung issued a statement saying that it is creating a team that will focus on in-car entertainment, satellite navigation and autonomous driving, although the details remain somewhat vague at this point.

Initially, the Korean conglomerate will manufacture car components for other companies, beginning with in-car infotainment gear. According to the release, the eventual aim is to branch out into the components that are necessary to build autonomous vehicles for other companies. This plan follows that of its local rival, LG, which formed a vehicle components division in 2013 and is now getting ready to produce components for car companies.

Kwon Oh-hyun, a vice chairman who has long managed Samsung’s electronics component business, will oversee the new team. The announcement comes as the company is under pressure to find new business ventures to offset lost profits from its decreasing smartphone sales. Many technology companies have been expanding into various aspects of auto technology in recent times, with some forming partnerships with carmakers.

Samsung actually had an auto manufacturing business in the 1990s, under the leadership of Chairman Lee Kun-hee, who was a sports car enthusiast. However, the venture went bankrupt in the aftermath of the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

There are other Samsung companies that have auto interests. Samsung SDI supplies lithium-ion batteries for electric carmakers, and Samsung Electro-Mechanics, an electronic parts maker, said last year that it will be entering the auto components business.

Certainly, self-driving cars share many components with smartphones, so it makes sense that Samsung’s expertise could transfer into this realm. Additionally, by choosing to produce the components for other companies, there’s a smaller risk than if Samsung attempted to go out on its own initially. It will be interesting to see how this story develops in the coming period as the technology company makes its move into the autonomous car sector. With both Apple and Google said to be exploring the possibility of offering self-driving cars in the future, perhaps Samsung’s timing is right.