Gov't plans new rules for autonomous vehicles, measures to tackle fine dust

The nation's prime minister held a policy coordination meeting with various ministers today.Key discussion topics include ways to promote autonomous vehicles and measures to tackle the fine dust problem. Yoon Jung-min has the highlights from that session. At a government policy coordination meeting on Thursday, Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon and ministers discussed ways to promote autonomous vehicles which are considered one of the most promising future industries for the country. The government plans to change the definition of drivers and revise laws accordingly.Until now, only humans could be considered drivers, but the revised law will also include an autonomous driving system as a driver.The government will also readjust rules in self-driving situations and scrap regulations. This will allow autonomous vehicles to drive closer together, and drivers of such vehicles to use mobile phones. "The regulation reform was introduced today to remove future obstacles ahead of time." Another item on the agenda was combating fine dust.One of the measures proposed was a policy to remove incentives given to low-emission diesel cars by 2030. The government had previously cut parking fees and congestion tolls for diesel vehicles. The so-called "clean diesel policy" will be scrapped as diesel cars are considered a main cause of air pollution. Meanwhile, the government said it will shut down more aged coal-fired power plants and work with neighboring countries such as China to tackle air pollution.Yoon Jung-min, Arirang News.