No company is immune to building an Edsel, but one of the most prominent failures in world history has to be the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. I mean, this phone was responsible for causing some people severe burns, it destroyed a number of vehicles, and was even banned from airplanes because they could suddenly catch fire or, for the most part, blow up. For what could have been a pretty serious tragedy for a prominent technology company, Samsung came out of that shit storm smelling like a rose. In fact, fans of the brand have been quite forgiving and, as such, Samsung has been said to be offering Note 7 owners a pretty significant discount to help keep them all happy. But, that’s not why I’m talking to you today. Instead, I’m here to tell you that Samsung has just received approval and a permit from California to put self-driving cars on the road. Yes, you read that right – the company that brought you the explosive Note 7 could soon put autonomous cars on the road.

Of course, there’s really nothing to freak out about quite yet. The company may have failed miserably with the Note 7, but some of you are driving around with Samsung battery technology in your vehicles right now. Yup, that’s right. Samsung SDI, a division of Samsung, supplies batteries for electric cars and has joined other tech companies like LG and Panasonic in venturing toward automotive products instead of the usual electronics that consume nearly every second of our lives. Unlike other big tech brands out there though, Samsung actually has a history with the automotive world, as it did have its own vehicle division back in the 1990s. But, thanks to the Asian financial crisis, no cars were ever produced and it was sold off to Renault by the turn of the millennium. After the acquisition, there were a total of a total of three cars produced – the Samsung SM 3, SM 5, and SM 7. If you live in the right part of the world, you might recognize the name Renault-Samsung Motors. The brand is basically the equivalent of what Opel was to GM as it sells rebadged Renaults and Nissans in certain models.

With that said, Samsung hasn’t released any information as to what it will have on the road in California or how soon it will manage to get a self-driving car on the road. But, you can bet they are coming at some point. Recently, the company was given permission to do the same thing on the streets of South Korea and has been using various but modified Hyundai models as test mules for its self-driving software and technology. So, there could eventually be a handful of Hyundai’s with Samsung technology cruising around Los Angeles, or who knows, maybe Samsung will eventually design its own car and try the market again. Considering most of you probably don’t even remember that Samsung had a car division, I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one, but you never know. With that in mind, let’s just hope that when these self-driving cars hit the streets of L.A., they aren’t as explosive as the Note 7 – the last thing we need is a bunch of autonomous cars rolling around and blowing up at random. This country has enough problems for now. But, what do you guys think? Let us know in the comments section below!

2008 - 2011 Samsung SM7 Commercial

2010 Samsung SM5

2014 Samsung SM3 Neo

References

Renault-Samsung SM7 Concept

Read our full review on the Renault-Samsung SM7 Concept.

Renault Twizy

Read our full review on the Renault Twizy.

Renault Talisman

Read our full review on the Renault Talisman.

Renault Latitude

Read our full review on the Renault Latitude.