User Tools

Site Tools


en_alt:senders

Senders

Who actually transmits C-ITS. This page is about models and manufacturers; for the geography — which cities and motorways are live — see Coverage.

The single most important distinction: only vehicles with ITS-G5 (WLANp / IEEE 802.11p, 5.9 GHz) broadcast CAM and DENM messages over direct radio, and only those can be picked up by a receiver. Several manufacturers market a hazard-warning feature under a similar name, but route it through their own cloud over the cellular network. Those vehicles are invisible to us.

Sender types

Stationary — RSUs (Road Side Units)

  1. Traffic lights
  2. Roadworks signs and safety trailers
  3. Toll gantries on motorways

An RSU by Yunex Traffic
An RSU by Yunex Traffic

Mobile — OBUs (On-Board Units)

  1. Trams
  2. Buses
  3. Cars
  4. Emergency vehicles

Vehicles: Volkswagen

By far the largest ITS-G5 fleet on European roads: more than 2 million vehicles produced with Car2X as of October 2025, and the ADAC now cites more than 2.3 million. Car2X was initially standard equipment, but since 2024/2025 it is only optional in most model lines — currently standard only in the ID.7. It can be switched off in the vehicle, and messages are sent under changing pseudonyms.

  • Golf 8 — since late 2019, standard from market launch. The first mass-produced ITS-G5 vehicle anywhere; listed as an option since the 8.5 facelift. Source, Source
  • ID.3 (since 09/2020), ID.4 (since late 2020), ID.5 (since 2022) — standard until early 2025 (ADAC: until week 6/2025), optional since then
  • ID.7 / ID.7 Tourer — since 2023, still standard
  • ID. Buzz — since 2022. Source
  • Multivan (T7)Source
  • Tiguan III — since early 2024; standard only in model year 2024, optional afterwards
  • Passat B9 — since early 2024
  • Tayron — since 2025
  • T-Roc II — since late 2025. The T-Roc I had no Car2X.

Group sources: VW press release on the two-million milestone (10/2025), CARIAD, ADAC overview

Vehicles: Cupra

  • Born — optional in the Tech Pack M/XL. According to the 2023 ADAC manufacturer survey only about 4,800 units were delivered with it.
  • Tavascan and Terramar — optional

Sources: ADAC, ADAC manufacturer survey 2023 (PDF)

Other VW Group brands

Despite sharing platforms with the models above, these do not have ITS-G5:

  • Škoda — no ITS-G5, not even in the Enyaq or Elroq (MEB platform). Instead cloud-based “Local Hazard Information”. A real C2X was announced in 2022 but has not materialised. Source, Source
  • Audi — no ITS-G5 in Europe. Hazard warnings go over the cellular network only (Audi connect package, all models except R8 and TT); the ADAC measured a latency of 1–2 minutes.
  • Seat — no offering.

Not receivable: cloud-based systems

These systems are sometimes also marketed as “Car-to-X”, but they use vehicle-to-cloud-to-vehicle communication over cellular networks. They never appear on direct radio, so no receiver will ever see them:

  • Mercedes-Benz — “Car-to-X” over cellular since 2013, partly standard depending on the model line
  • BMW — “Local Hazard Warning”, cloud-based via HERE, fleet-wide since around 2020. Source
  • Ford — “Local Hazard Information”, standard in all EU models with the 4th-generation modem since 09/2019; latency 20–60 s
  • Volvo — “Connected Safety” (hazard-light and slippery-road warnings), standard from model year 2020, over 4G

According to the 2023 ADAC manufacturer survey, these brands had no Car2X offering at all: Renault, Dacia, Stellantis, Hyundai, Kia, Toyota (Europe), Nissan, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Subaru, Polestar, Aiways, Ora. Source

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is often the more rewarding target: an RSU sits still, transmits continuously, and is not going to drive away.

  • Motorways — ASFINAG has equipped the Austrian motorway network with C-ITS on a large scale (ASFINAG blog, C-ITS Deployment Group). In Germany, the Autobahn GmbH is rolling out C-ITS as well (autobahn.de).
  • Car2X traffic lights — for example in Vienna (wien.gv.at), Kassel and other C-Roads pilot regions. These send MAPEM and SPATEM.
  • Public transport — buses and trams fitted with OBUs, often for signal priority at intersections.
  • Roadworks — safety trailers and mobile roadworks sending DENMs.
  • Toll gantries and emergency vehicles from the various C-ITS projects.

The regions where this is actually deployed are listed on Coverage.

Outside Europe

Three regions, three incompatible systems. None of them can be received with ITS-G5 hardware.

USA — DSRC/WAVE, 5.9 GHz

The Cadillac CTS had V2V over DSRC as standard equipment in model years 2017–2019 (US and Canada only), discontinued when CTS production ended; there was no successor. In 2020 the FCC reallocated the upper part of the 5.9 GHz band, which makes DSRC effectively dead in the USA; the transition is heading towards C-V2X. Source, Source

Japan — ITS Connect, 760 MHz

Toyota's ITS Connect has been available as an option since 2015, first in the Crown and Prius, later in further Toyota and Lexus models. It uses its own 760 MHz band for V2V and V2I with traffic lights, is Japan-only, and is incompatible with ITS-G5. Source, Source

China — C-V2X / LTE-V2X

A state-driven rollout based on C-V2X. Its direct mode (PC5) also uses 5.9 GHz, but it is incompatible with ITS-G5 at the physical layer. The first production vehicle was the Buick GL8 Avenir (SAIC-GM, from late 2020); since then numerous models from Chinese manufacturers ship with C-V2X, including the Hongqi E-HS9. Source, Source

In practice

If you receive a vehicle over direct radio around here, it is almost certainly a Volkswagen — or a Cupra Born with the Tech Pack. On top of that come the special-purpose and commercial vehicles from the C-ITS projects: scheduled buses, trams, safety trailers and emergency vehicles.

If you receive infrastructure, you are near one of the deployments listed on Coverage.

en_alt/senders.txt · Last modified: by hajo