Finding areas to apply self-driving car technologies is essential: Experts

"자율주행차 기술, 어디에 접목시킬 수 있나 고민해라"

The South Korean government will be investing billions next year to develop the automobiles of the future such as self-driving cars.
That's one of three industries where the government plans to find and nurture a "first mover" that can lead globally.
Our Choi Si-young brings us part two of our series on how South Korea could do better on its plan to make the nation a "pioneer" economy rather than one that tries to chase others.
Back in April, the Moon administration announced that it's going to foster the industries of future cars, bio-health and non-memory semiconductors to sharpen South Korea's competitive edge in those sectors and create more jobs.
On Wednesday, Finance Minister Hong-nam Ki unveiled how the government will spend its budget to do that.
Starting next year, it will invest around two-point-five billion U.S. dollars on the three sectors.
Almost half of that is dedicated to developing the automobiles of the future such as electric and self-driving cars.
South Korea is lagging further behind its competitors in self-driving technologies than in electric cars,... and this is one of the reasons the trade and science ministries together are injecting another twenty-five million,... for self-driving cars on their own.
Some experts say the government is focusing only on the latest technology.
"For the past years we've been actually developing self-driving technologies. What we haven't been doing is finding areas where we can apply these technologies. We should pay more attention to what those might be and how we can do that."
The expert went on to say that some are in the transportation and logistics industries, where self-driving technologies could bring more efficiency.
He also urged companies to do their part.
"Companies themselves, when doing R&D, should think about how their technology can appeal to other sectors and consumers... so that the new technology leads to a greater synergy effect later."
South Korea is still trying to catch up with leaders in self-driving tech like Google, but experts say the government and local firms could narrow that gap faster than expected,... with the right strategy and funding.
Choi Si-young, Arirang News.