Interview: Dinesh Paliwal, Chief Executive, Harman

Automotive infotainment leader Harman recently agreed to an acquisition by Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung, a move that will rapidly facilitate the latter's entry into the connected car space. But as for Harman, to many industry watchers it seemed as if the supplier had been making pretty amazing headway on its own, securing pivotal acquisitions and blazing technology trails. What it still lacked, explained Chief Executive Dinesh Paliwal, was scale.

The move towards autonomous driving requires a wide range of technologies that come together seamlessly, no easy feat even for a diversified supplier. "I have been saying one thing consistently – that scale will matter. Even if you claim that you will work collaboratively with three or four companies, it is not the same," Paliwal told Automotive World.