Over two million Volkswagen vehicles now feature Car2X safety technology

Volkswagen reaches two million vehicles with Car2X connectivity, enhancing road safety through real-time communication between cars and infrastructure across Europe.

More than two million Volkswagen vehicles produced for Europe are now equipped with Car2X technology — a milestone that marks the brand’s steady progress toward its “Vision Zero,” a future without serious accidents. The system connects cars and road infrastructure in a shared network, where data is exchanged directly, without mobile communication, and within milliseconds.

Its purpose is simple yet powerful: vehicles warn each other about potential dangers — traffic jams, accidents, roadworks, or approaching emergency vehicles. In the driver’s digital cockpit, instant alerts appear to prevent critical situations. The “swarm intelligence” principle behind Car2X becomes increasingly effective as more vehicles and roadside units join the network.

The technology is available across a broad Volkswagen lineup — Golf, T-Roc, Tiguan, Tayron, Passat, ID.3, ID.4, and ID.5 — and comes as standard in the all-electric ID.7. Communication between vehicles and infrastructure operates via the Wi-Fi p (ITS-G5) standard within a range of up to 800 meters. Data transfer is anonymous and free of charge.

Car2X is also used by infrastructure operators. In Germany, Autobahn GmbH has equipped more than one thousand roadworks trailers with Car2X units. In Austria, ASFINAG has installed hundreds of stationary roadside devices, while in Spain the DGT 3.0 platform now covers over 12,000 kilometers of highways. Similar deployments are underway in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovenia, where connected roadside units and emergency vehicles already communicate with passing traffic.

The technology’s effectiveness has been confirmed in ADAC testing: a Volkswagen Golf consistently issued warnings about eight typical danger scenarios, roughly ten seconds before potential collisions. Although no official statistics on avoided accidents have been published, experts regard the results as a clear indication of its promise.

Car2X is becoming the backbone for next-generation driver-assist systems. It already allows the optional Travel Assist with adaptive cruise control to reduce speed ahead of visible traffic congestion. In the coming years, it will also link with other road users — from bicycles to buses. To support this, Volkswagen and its partners, including Audi, Bosch, Deutsche Telekom, Qualcomm, and others, joined the international Coalition for Cyclist Safety.

Yet, challenges remain: coverage and regulatory harmonization still differ between countries. Europe continues to expand C-ITS infrastructure, but a unified framework has yet to emerge. Even so, as thousands of vehicles and hundreds of intelligent roadside units begin to “speak” the same language, the concept of cooperative, safer mobility is no longer distant — it is becoming part of everyday driving.