Samsung has made no secret of the fact that it wants to play a bigger role in the automotive market, particularly one where smart and autonomous cars reign supreme. If you had any doubts about its intention the company's recent acquisition of Harman International should put them to rest. Samsung has now joined a consortium investing $10 million in TetraVue, a startup that's working to improve self-driving cars.
How will it go about improving self-driving cars? By giving them better vision. The company has been working on an entirely new approach to flash LIDAR technology. Self-driving cars rely on this technology to survey the environment around them using laser-powered light. TetraVue has developed a solid-state 3D camera that has no moving parts. It's only a prototype right now but TetraVue wants to miniaturize the product before it starts selling it in the rapidly evolving self-driving car market.
Samsung has joined a consortium that sees enough value in the company's product to invest $10 million in it. Other investors include Foxconn, Robert Bosch Venture Capital and Nautilus Venture Partners.
