Samsung Electronics Co. became the 39th entity on the list of California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to test self-driving technology on roads in Silicon Valley

The electronics giant has also been granted permission for road test in South Korea in May.

Under California state regulations, companies wishing to test driverless cars need to file a permit and submit regular reports to the DMV. Last year, the ride-hailing firm Uber was forced off the streets of San Francisco when it was found testing autonomous vehicles without a permit.

Samsung Electronics said it plans to test self-driving technology on three vehicles - one Toyota Prius and two Audi A3s - in the cities of San Jose, Santa Clara and Mountain View.

“We have no plans to enter the car manufacturing business,” said an official at Samsung Electronics. “We want to develop the underlying technology for driverless vehicles rather than build our own.”

The world’s largest chipmaker said it would focus on developing parts and machine-learning systems to support the autonomous vehicle. The task of obtaining permission from the California state was spearheaded by the semiconductor division at Samsung Electronics’ office in San Jose, according to sources.

The Korean electronics behemoth has joined the self-driving car race with an aim to become a global leader in the automotive electronics sector. To this end, it acquired Harman International Industries, a U.S-based in-car entertainment and audio systems company, for $8 billion in March.

By Sohn Jae-gwon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]