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V2X: everything is relative in this integrated communication system

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If there is one word that sums up the world as we know it today, it is connected. People are by nature social and if recent developments are anything to go by, our mobility is going interactive as well. The latest buzz is V2X or Vehicle-to-Everything, a wireless communication system that supports the exchange of information between a vehicle and its surroundings, whether they be other vehicles (V2V) infrastructure (V2I), or even humans (V2P). As with most automotive innovations, the intended benefit of V2X is increased road safety and traffic management.

To better understand V2X, we have to take a look at its three main pillars: V2V (Vehicle-to-Vehicle) allows a car to receive data from surrounding cars about their position, speed, which direction they are driving in and so on. V2V in itself can be extremely helpful in avoiding collisions.

The V2I (Vehicle-to-Infrastructure) system can exchange information with static entities such as connected traffic lights, road signs, street cameras etc. Imagine the time an emergency vehicle can save as adaptive traffic lights can grant it prioritized passage on intersections. Presumably the hardest one to reach its full potential is V2P (Vehicle-to-Pedestrian) as it requires free will from road users such as pedestrians and bikers to enter the game and use their mobile device to alert them to potential danger.

While V2X technology will be a valuable asset for the new mobility, there are many challenges concerning infrastructure, legislation and privacy to overcome for this revolution to happen.