There are now 39 companies testing self-driving cars on Californian roads
AP/Eric Risberg
There are now dozens of companies that can legally test self-driving cars in California, which is quickly evolving into a mecca for the new transportation technology.
Samsung became the latest firm to get permission from California's Department of Motor Vehicles (DOV) on Thursday as it looks to keep up with rivals like Google and Apple.
The DOVÂ added Samsung to an online list of companies that can legally test self-driving cars on public roads across The Golden State. As a result, Samsung will be able to test a Toyota Prius and two Audi A3s, according to a DOV spokesperson cited by The Financial Times.
Samsung made its ambitions in the autonomous car market clear in March this year when it acquired automotive supplier Harman International for $8 billion (£6 billion).
The South Korean tech giant was given permission to test self-driving cars in its home country in May.
Samsung did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
There are now almost 40 companies with permits to test self-driving cars in California. Others include BMW, Honda, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, Waymo (owned by Google parent company Alphabet), and Drive.ai.
Here is the full list:
Volkswagen Group of America Mercedes Benz Waymo Delphi Automotive Tesla Motors Bosch Nissan GM Cruise LLC BMW Honda Ford Zoox, Inc. Drive.ai, Inc. Faraday & Future Inc. Baidu USA LLC Wheego Electric Cars Inc. Valeo North America, Inc. NextEV USA, Inc. Telenav, Inc. NVIDIA Corporation AutoX Technologies Inc Subaru Udacity, Inc Navya Inc. Renovo.auto UATC LLC (Uber) PlusAi Inc Nuro, Inc CarOne LLC Apple Inc. Bauerâs Intelligent Transportation Pony.AI TuSimple Jingchi Corp SAIC Innovation Center, LLC Almotive Inc Aurora Innovation Nullmax Samsung Electronics