JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, 08 January 2019 – Samsung today announced how the company’s investment and leadership in AI, IoT, and 5G technologies will serve as the building blocks for its vision for Connected Living. The company also unveiled its future AI-powered robotics platforms, which can be used to manage activities of daily living, such as helping an aging population independently manage their health routine.

“2019 is Samsung Electronics 50th anniversary, and for the last five decades, we’ve been committed to bringing meaningful innovations to consumers everywhere,” said Cambridge Mokanyane, Chief Marketing Officer at Samsung South Africa. “In 2019, we’re taking things to the next level, and leveraging our industry leadership to make our vision of Connected Living a reality.

Accelerating the Intelligence of Things with IoT, 5G, and AI

Driving Samsung’s Connected Living philosophy is the Intelligence of Things – IoT, 5G, and AI working together across devices, to create seamless experiences. At its CES press conference in Las Vegas today, the company explained how its work in these core technologies is enabling innovation throughout its product portfolio.

Since unifying the SmartThings app and introducing the SmartThings Cloud, the SmartThings ecosystem has grown significantly. The number of registered SmartThings users has grown 220 percent and app installs have increased 61 percent. The number of partners participating in this ecosystem has also grown by 44 percent. Today, consumers can enjoy SmartThings experiences with devices from top global brands like Amazon, Google, Bose, Sylvania, and Plume.

Samsung leveraged its telecommunications leadership to make major strides in bringing 5G connectivity to consumers. Samsung is the number one patent holder with ETSI , having registered more than 2,000 5G essential patents as of November 2018. And it is the world’s first company to receive FCC approval on its commercial 5G equipment. The company powered the commercialisation of home and mobile 5G networks with major U.S. carriers and all three mobile carriers in Korea, with additional trials running in Europe and Asia. Samsung is also committed to putting the power of 5G in consumers’ hands, with a 5G smartphone coming in the first half of 2019.

Samsung believes that AI is most useful when it helps to simplify a complex world. To that end, the company established seven Global AI Centres, and is adopting unique technologies into its products and services. And to ensure that Samsung works with the best and the brightest in the field, Samsung NEXT and the Samsung Strategy and Innovation Centre (SSIC) have invested in more than 20 AI-related start-ups over the last five years.

Bixby, Samsung’s Intelligence Platform, Expands

Bixby started as a smarter way to use your Galaxy phone. Today, it is evolving to become a scalable, open AI platform that will support more and more devices. The company announced that Bixby intelligence will be infused into its 2019 QLED and premium TVs, and smart appliances like refrigerators, washers, as well as air conditioners, mobile devices, AI speakers and more. What’s more, Bixby is expanding to a new Digital Cockpit and robotics platforms. Uber, Ticketmaster and others are using Bixby to make their services more intelligent. Today, Samsung announced that iHeartRadio joined as a new partner. And, Bixby will continue to grow as more partners, such as Google, join the ecosystem.

Samsung also announced its core AI philosophy: Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency. As it works to advance AI technology, Samsung is committed to ensuring the algorithms it builds are inclusive, the protection of user information and privacy are top priorities, and it’s easy for consumers to understand what the company does with their data and how it is handled.

Next Level Experience of Samsung’s 2019 Portfolio

Samsung also introduced a line-up of new innovations, all of which streamline and simplify day-to-day tasks, and offer a more personalised and unique experience for each user, in a way that only Samsung can.

Entertainment:
Samsung unveiled its 98” QLED 8K – it’s largest yet – adding to its 2019 line-up that features 65”, 75”, 82”, and 85” models. Embedded with the Quantum Processor 8K chip, the 2019 8K line delivers the best in QLED picture quality, design, smart features in more sizes than ever in stunning 8K resolution. Whether a viewer is watching content through a streaming service, set-top box, HDMI, USB or even mobile screen mirroring, Samsung’s proprietary AI-based technology can recognise and upscale any content, regardless of the native resolution, to near pristine 8K quality. This is Samsung’s smartest and most powerful TV yet.

In 2019, Samsung Smart TVs offer more ways to search for content and more compatibility with connected devices than ever before. With an improved AI algorithm that leverages a user’s subscription services, favourite content, and TV viewing habits, the Universal Guide makes it easier for users to find the perfect show for them to watch. Users also have more options than ever to quickly and easily find and control their favourite content with just their voice by using new Bixby and the AI Remote as well as even more ways to control their Samsung TVs through Amazon Echo and Google Home.

In a move to deliver more entertainment options, value and open platform functionality to Samsung Smart TV users, Samsung announced it will offer iTunes Movies and TV Shows and Apple AirPlay 2 support on 2019 Samsung Smart TV models beginning this spring. Support on 2018 Samsung Smart TVs will be made available via a firmware update. In an industry first, a new iTunes Movies and TV Shows app will debut only on Samsung Smart TVs in more than 100 countries. AirPlay 2 support will be available on Samsung Smart TVs in 190 countries worldwide.

Home:
Family Hub 2019 is more intuitive and intelligent than ever before. The new Family Board offers a completely redesigned screen experience, letting family members communicate and share memories in a creative space on the front of the fridge. Honoured with a CES 2019 Innovation Award, Family Hub 2019 with the new Bixby lets users interact in natural language to get answers to complicated questions, pre-set the oven, search for recipes, and even call an Uber. In addition, Bixby visually shows you information on the screen for a richer experience and displays an array of visual information. These new features will also be available via automatic update for most earlier Family Hub models.

The new front load washer, also a 2019 CES Innovation Award winner, can finish a full load in just 30 minutes with the SuperSpeed feature. With Bixby, users can also control its smart features like getting recommendations for the best wash cycle, scheduling a cycle to be completed at a users’ preferred time, automatically connecting the dryer cycle when the washer is done, or monitoring usage to efficiently manage their laundry appliances.

Work:
Samsung revealed a line of new, innovative products that combine productivity and flexibility to help consumers get things done more conveniently. The redesigned Notebook 9 Pro is engineered for on-the-go modern professionals to help them reach their true creative potential, while the Notebook Odyssey gaming laptop, powered by the new high-end NVIDIA® GeForce RTX 20-series GPU, is ready for both work and play. Samsung Space Monitor leverages its sleek design and functionality to allow users to focus on what’s on the screen and not what’s around it. Its unique built-in space saving solution, a minimalist, fully-integrated clamp stand that grips to the desk, tilting back and forth to free up space for optimal user productivity. Beyond aesthetics, Samsung’s Space Monitor is a feature-rich, high-performance monitor. The 27-inch model offers QHD resolution for incredibly detailed, sharp images, while the 32-inch model presents content in 4K UHD.

Connected Driving:
Samsung also presented its latest development with HARMAN, showcasing its innovation in automotive technology. The Digital Cockpit 2019 offers an enhanced connected car experience focused on connectivity, personalisation, and safety.

With the integration of Bixby’s connected car experience, drivers can remotely check how much gas they have before going on a long road trip or set the car temperature before heading out for the day. Using on-board cameras, the new Digital Cockpit recognises specific drivers and passengers and sets up the car’s personal space accordingly – adjusting the display preferences, seat height, lighting, and queuing up favourite playlists. Passengers can even enjoy personalised screens on the rear seats and connect to In-vehicle Samsung DeX to get work done on-the-go. The Digital Cockpit 2019 also provides a safer driving experience with the mirror replacement vision system and camera-based safety solutions.

All of this is possible thanks to Cellular-V2X technology that incorporates Samsung’s expertise in mobile network solutions with automotive technologies. With Samsung’s C-V2X, cars will be able to receive and analyse information that will make the driving experience safer and more enjoyable.

Device Solutions:
In order to power tomorrow’s AI technologies, Samsung emphasised that today’s AI infrastructure must evolve to handle intelligence at the edge. For this reason, the company is working to launch a comprehensive portfolio of solutions that will shape the future of intelligent devices.

Samsung’s mobile memory and AI-enabled processors, including the recently-announced Exynos Auto line, will allow for faster and more efficient on-device processing. At the same time, its advanced memory solutions will meet the rigorous demands of tomorrow’s datacentres and enterprises as they look to complete more complex AI tasks.

Robotics Platforms for the Future of AI

Samsung offered a peek into the future of Connected Living by demonstrating its latest developments in robotics platforms including the Samsung Bot Care, Samsung Bot Air, Samsung Bot Retail, and Samsung GEMS. Among the robotics platforms, Samsung gave a first public demonstration of Samsung Bot Care, which helps consumers manage their daily health routines. With its advances in AI and robotics, the company is harnessing its best assets to make a positive impact on society and shape a better world.

For more information including photos and videos, please stay tuned to Samsung Newsroom for updates.

CES 2018 – JOHANNESBURG, South Africa,  09 January, 2018 – It hasn’t been a year since HARMAN International became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. focused on connected technologies for automotive, consumer and enterprise markets and the two companies have already leveraged their combined teams and resources to drive future mobility forward. Unveiled today at CES 2018 are a host of unique connected car solutions that support HARMAN and Samsung’s joint mission to become the leader in connectivity and autonomous driving: connecting the lives of people, whether at home, on the go, or together in the car.

These key innovations showcase an integrated approach to a rich digital car experience, including:

• A reinvented digital cockpit platform for all vehicle segments that has given the interior of the car a makeover;
• A new telematics solution along with the industry first automotive-grade 5G-ready connectivity solution; and
• An ecosystem of partners and solutions to further build out the Samsung open autonomous platform, along with a showcase of our first implementation of this together with TTTechComputertechnik AG.

Each new solution was made possible through the HARMAN-Samsung alliance that leverages Samsung’s global scale, R&D capabilities, dominance in mobile/TV/semiconductors and distribution channels and HARMAN’s leading connected car heritage, relationships, market knowledge and growing community of innovation partners. Both companies are also making global investments in start-ups to help Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) meet growing consumer demand for in-vehicle technology through scalable solutions that enhance the user experience for every vehicle segment.

“Together with Samsung, we have increased innovation speed through scale, resources and competencies to help automakers focus on the car’s evolution from device-centric to experience centric,” said Dinesh Paliwal, HARMAN President and CEO. “HARMAN has the heritage and expertise in automotive and collectively HARMAN and Samsung harness our best technologies and global scale to accelerate how we better serve the needs of automakers in this rapidly evolving automotive market.”

New HARMAN Digital Cockpit Platform  

The new Digital Cockpit platform includes a suite of flexible and scalable premium experiences that support today’s connected lifestyles without compromising safety or performance. It’s available in standard and advanced system configurations and can seamlessly integrate the instrument cluster with centre console via voice, haptic feedback, and physical knobs and steering wheel controls in a single, centre screen for all vital vehicle information and features. This also supports a multi-modal approach for interactions with different human-machine interfaces to allow customisation in terms of HVAC, media and user settings.

The Digital Cockpit platform brings an entirely new generation of communication and ergonomics inside vehicles, allowing drivers to focus on the road ahead while intuitively and safely interacting with their in-car technology. This is made possible through a projection mode for services and apps via a user’s smartphone, allowing for increased personalisation. A greater IoT ecosystem via cloud technology in the entry-level segment, as well as mid/high-level configurations, not only improves connectivity, but helps lower costs and overall vehicle weight.

In a premium configuration, the Digital Cockpit weaves together a driver’s entire connected lifestyle across the Internet of Things. Through a multi-display layout that leverages HARMAN’s Ignite Platform, the in-car user experience can be personalised for the driver and passenger via services such as virtual personal assistants, portable profiles, augmented reality and more. This also allows for the Android OS to be integrated on four displays – a first for the industry.

Focused on a future generation of shared mobility, the premium Digital Cockpit personalises occupant experiences, so drivers and passengers feel like the car is theirs even if they don’t own it. By leveraging the phone as a key service, the system can automatically access subscription services associated with user profiles while Bixby offers intelligent personal assistance to help occupants complete tasks by voice, touch, gesture and context-based triggers.

The Digital Cockpit is scalable and made available for every automotive segment, offering future proof and safety-focused features within a developer-friendly open ecosystem.

First 5G Automotive Telematics Solution and Customer

HARMAN and Samsung are jointly developing modular approaches for advanced telematics, capable of 1 Gb/s bandwidth. HARMAN and Samsung will deliver the industry’s first 5G-ready automotive solution and multi-band conformal antenna to enable secure, fast and reliable data communications. The solution consists of a telematics control unit with a modular design accommodating a network access device (NAD) supporting LTE CAT 16 connectivity today and 5G in the future leveraging the same hardware design. 5G represents a paradigm shift in the future of mobility. In the automotive sector, 5G delivers safety-enhancing C-V2X capability that is an essential enabler for autonomous transportation. 5G boosts speeds up to 100X faster than current 4G LTE standards to provide incredibly fast high-resolution streaming, immersive virtual and augmented reality features and seamless cloud-based applications in fast-moving cars. Ultra-reliable and with low-latency response times of just 1ms, 5G enables C-V2X and cloud-based compute and storage for the next generation autonomous vehicles. HARMAN today announced that a leading European automaker will be the first customer for this solution. At CES 2018, HARMAN and Samsung will demonstrate high speed connectivity in a future mobility concept vehicle powered by the Samsung Networks 5G infrastructure.

Advanced Driving Solutions Today for an Autonomous Tomorrow

Developed in close collaboration with HARMAN, Samsung announced its new DRVLINE platform, an open and modular platform for autonomous driving designed to scale from Level 3 automation up to Levels 4 and 5. The two companies will continue to focus on engineering, high-performance computing, sensor technologies, algorithms, artificial intelligence, and cloud and connectivity solutions that are scalable and capable of lower-level autonomy through to Level 5. The first HARMAN/Samsung-developed ADAS product will be a forward-facing camera featuring lane-departure warning, adaptive cruise control, collision warning and pedestrian warning algorithms. The new system combines Samsung’s heritage in camera technology with HARMAN’s ADAS 360 solution that blends machine learning and data science with augmented reality to create a self-learning virtual co-passenger to ensure the connected driving experience is personalised and safe. The new system will begin shipping in 2018.

About HARMAN

HARMAN (harman.com) designs and engineers connected products and solutions for automakers, consumers, and enterprises worldwide, including connected car systems, audio and visual products, enterprise automation solutions; and services supporting the Internet of Things.  With leading brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson® and Revel®, HARMAN is admired by audiophiles, musicians and the entertainment venues where they perform around the world. More than 50 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and connected car systems. Our software services power billions of mobile devices and systems that are connected, integrated and secure across all platforms, from work and home to car and mobile. HARMAN has a workforce of approximately 30,000 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. In March 2017, HARMAN became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.