Samsung Starts Development of Chips for Google’s Self-driving Car – BusinessKorea
Samsung Electronics has started to develop the core semiconductors for Google's next-generation self-driving car.
The company has recently won an order to supply semiconductors for next-generation self-driving cars from Waymo, a Google subsidiary committed to developing self-driving cars.
The project is aimed at developing chips that act as the brain of a self-driving car. The semiconductors control all functions of the vehicle while computing data collected from various sensors attached to it and exchanging information with the Google Data Center in real time.
As autonomous driving is also closely connected to artificial intelligence (AI) technology, the Korean semiconductor giant is expected to utilize state-of-the-art design technologies, including neural processor units (NPUs), high-end CPUs and graphics processing units (GPUs) among others.
Waymo is the world's largest self-driving car company and has recorded more than 20 million miles of self-driving tests and driving in various regions of the United States. It has secured a database about self-driving cars, which is overwhelmingly larger than those of its competitors, including finished car producers.
Meanwhile, Harman, Samsung Electronics' subsidiary specializing in automotive electronics, announced on Feb. 26 (local time) that it will acquire Savari, a startup on self-driving cars in the U.S. Established in 2011, Savari develops vehicle to everything (V2X), a communication technology that connects vehicles and objects. This technology overcomes the limitations of self-driving sensors by providing real-time road information such as traffic light signals and obstacles to vehicles.
Some industry observers say that Samsung Electronics may acquire self-driving technology developers. The company said at a conference call in January that it will make large M&A deals within the next three years.
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