For consumers, the long-term impact could be vehicles better informed about their surroundings and able to provide earlier warnings about road dangers.

Industry leaders say ecosystem, platform, and business-model challenges remain, calling for cost-optimized, software-defined platforms and phased deployment across vehicle segments over the next decade.

A taskforce and TRAI are developing a framework for spectrum assignment and V2I terms, enabling RSUs to send real-time hazard alerts and pilots for V2X use cases.

The policy sets a framework for rolling out connected mobility applications and signals a path for vehicles to communicate with infrastructure to improve traffic flow and safety.

Manufacturers have begun integrating V2X bandwidth, with final norms expected by December 2026 and safety feature rollouts planned within months.

India has removed licensing requirements for radar sensors in the 77GHz to 81GHz band and for 5.9GHz V2X communications, eliminating a major commercial barrier for self-driving and collision-avoidance systems.

In the 5.9 GHz band, On-Board Units for C-V2X communications connected to intelligent transportation systems can operate without spectrum licensing on a non-interference, non-protection, and non-exclusive basis.

The Department of Telecommunications exempted C-V2X devices from licensing, broadening the use of connected vehicle technologies in India.

The government plans to roll out vehicle-to-vehicle communications first, targeting urgent road-safety use cases such as emergency electronic brake alerts, forward collision warnings, rear-vehicle alerts, and queue warnings.

The policy aims to reduce road deaths in India, where fatalities in 2024 exceeded 177,000 across nearly half a million incidents.

This regulatory move seeks to address a high toll of injuries and deaths, with millions affected by road crashes in recent years.

The measure highlights the potential safety impact of V2X and radar-enabled systems in reducing fatalities on India’s roads.