Samsung in Your Car

Samsung has announced a $300 million fund to invest in a range of automotive technologies.

The new Samsung Automotive Innovation Fund will invest in connected car and autonomous driving technologies covering artificial intelligence (AI), machine vision, smart sensors, safety features, cybersecurity, and more. The fund’s first investment will be in Austria’s TTTech, a company specializing in safety, networking, and software integration for ADAS (advanced driver-assistance systems) and automated driving platforms. Samsung revealed it will invest €75 million ($89 million) in the company.

The Korean electronics giant has made no secret of its intentions in the broader automotive realm and has been ramping up efforts in research and development for products relating to transport for a while now.

Samsung has made previous investments in battery technology for electric vehicles, including investments in California-based Seeo, which develops rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, and StoreDot, a company that’s building instant-charging batteries for electric cars. Back in 2015, Samsung went all in on its electric car ambitions when its “materials and energy” subsidiary, Samsung SDI, acquired an entire battery business from Magna International.

Samsung has also filed for patents in both the U.S. and South Korea for technology that can be used in electric vehicles. The plans include “tires, motors, as well as on-board electronics for information sharing between the car and driver.”

The company also invested in startups such as Vinli, which is setting out to create an app ecosystem for cars. And Samsung later launched Samsung Connect Auto, which offers in-car services like Wi-Fi to keep drivers online. If there was any remaining doubt about Samsung’s intentions in the connected car sphere, last November the company announced plans to acquire Harman — which specializes in connected car software and services — in a whopping $8 billion deal.