KOREA'S INVESTMENT IN AUTOMOBILE SECTOR

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From self-driving vehicles to flying cars -- things we have only seen in sci-fi movies -- are gradually becoming a reality. The Korean government has announced a plan to boost the nation's future automobile sector to the world's highest level by 2030.

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When a drone appears above a car, a capsule carrying a passenger attaches to the drone and flies away. It's a drone taxi that is currently being developed by Airbus and Audi. Uber has also announced a plan to launch flying taxis in four years. Google, meanwhile, has already begun operations of autonomous taxis. The automobile sector is expanding rapidly across industries and spatial boundaries.

[Soundbite] CHUNG UI-SEON(HYUNDAI MOTOR(OCT. 15)) : "In the near future customers will be able to witness various transportation means, such as urban air mobility, last mile mobility, and robots."

The Korean government is also jumping on the latest trends in the auto sector. By 2025, Korea aims to commercialize flying cars. By 2027, it seeks to become the world's first to commercialize fully-autonomous vehicles. To that end, Seoul is working to enact necessary regulations and build related infrastructure by the year 2024. The goal is to raise the number of eco-friendly vehicles, such as hydrogen cars, to one in every three cars in the natio by 2030, and increase their global market share to 10 percent. Moreover, 60 trillion won will be invested in the private sector over the next ten years to build infrastructure to accommodate such vehicles.

[Soundbite] PRES. MOON JAE-IN : "Our goal is to become the world's number one in the future car industry by 2030."

The government and the auto industry believe that the rise of autonomous vehicles can be either a blessing or a curse for Korea's auto sector, which currently ranks seventh in the global market, depending on how it responds to market changes.