Feature By Leo Smith
Not Kicked to the Curb—Connected to It
Most advances in technology represent incremental improvements, like upgrading your sixth-generation smartphone to the latest model. But once in a while, a technology comes along that truly revolutionizes an industry. Ride-hailing apps displaced long-established taxi systems by using GPS-powered smartphones to coordinate riders in real time. Video stores gave way to streaming platforms like Netflix that have fundamentally changed how people watch television and films. Connected Vehicle Technology (C-V2X) is a similar, revolutionary technology that will connect vehicles with each other, pedestrians, other vulnerable roadway users, and roadside units to make universal automated driving safer and easier, and all without human intervention.
Today, the C-V2X revolution in transportation safety is already well underway, and it will profoundly affect the future of roadway lighting. Cellular communications, between roadside units and the vehicle, as well as among vehicles constantly exchanging information with each other, will result in an electronic and automatic control of a vehicle’s speed, spacing, and awareness of its surroundings.
For example, all vehicles approaching an intersection will communicate with the traffic control device, which will emit cellular signals representing the message to stop, slow down, or go—just like red, yellow, and green lights do today. The cellular communication, from the traffic control device to the vehicles, as well as from and to vehicles proximate to the intersection, will cause vehicles to stop and go—with vehicles aware of the exact location of all nearby vehicles, relative to their position and speed, to within 4 in.
Streetlights have been an important transportation safety measure, assisting the driver during darkness to increase vision further down the road than would be possible using only the vehicle headlights. The key reason for using roadway lighting to improve transportation safety is the need to extend human visual awareness of surroundings to increase reaction time to respond to unexpected events or dangers.
When C-V2X technology becomes widespread in vehicles and roadside units in 10 to 15 years, human eyesight will no longer control the vehicle. Roadway lighting, as well as car headlights, will be impacted by this C-V2X technology. Autonomous vehicles, classified as Fully Self Driven (FSD), are currently deployed in limited markets in the U.S. as taxis in Phoenix; San Francisco; Los Angeles; Austin, TX; Atlanta; Las Vegas; San Diego; and Detroit, with more widespread adoption to follow.
C-V2X technology already is a massive worldwide undertaking. The U.S., Canada, China, India, and Japan, as well as the European Union, have all adopted standards for implementing C-V2X technology for transportation safety. In the U.S., the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) released a document in August 2024, Saving Lives with Connectivity: A Plan to Accelerate V2X Deployment, containing a rollout for short-, medium-, and long-term goals.
Long-term goals include full deployment of C-V2X throughout the 160,000 miles of roads that comprise the Federal Highway System by 2035—just nine years from now. The FHWA goal in deploying C-V2X technology is to reduce traffic fatalities to zero. Several industries are likely to be affected by C-V2X technology, ranging from auto insurance to auto body repair shops and even roadway lighting manufacturers, engineers, and specifiers. Revenue generated by fines for traffic infractions could be reduced or eliminated by full deployment of C-V2X.
In 2024, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission reserved the 5.895–5.925-MHz bandwidth to be exclusively dedicated to C-V2X communications for transportation safety. This bandwidth will be used by both the roadside C-V2I (Vehicle-to-Infrastructure) units and the onboard units that comprise the network communications among vehicles and the roadway.
The worldwide commitment by manufacturers in deploying C-V2X technology to control vehicles is evidenced by the number of C-V2X-related patents held as of 2025. Qualcomm led with 3,852 C-V2X patents, followed by LG Electronics at 2,707, Huawei at 1,947, Ericsson at 1,643, and Ford Motors at 838. Many other patent holders also exist. The revolution, though, will also accelerate exponentially, from advances along several other technological fronts.
Successful improvements to transportation safety, through control of vehicles via cellular communications, will require next-generation 6G technology. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technology. The ITU has established new performance goals for cellular technologies at 10-year intervals to encourage global standards harmonization. 6G technology is scheduled for release in 2030 and is expected to be universally deployed by 2035.
6G will provide ultra-fast communications—significantly reducing latency, enabling real-time and high-bandwidth data exchange between vehicles, while at the same time offering highly reliable and secure connectivity, with precise localization and sensing capabilities, enabling accurate positioning of vehicles and improved situational awareness. Even some of today’s 5G technologies offer car and truck positioning accuracy to within 10 centimeters—fewer than 4 in. This integrated solution is projected to be on the roads by 2028.
As the safety benefit from roadway lighting becomes less significant (once C-V2X is fully deployed), an increase in demand for energy at night may accelerate the transition away from roadway lighting. The two primary forces increasing the demand for energy at night are AI data centers and home electric-vehicle charging stations. In 2024, AI data centers consumed just 4% of the total electrical load. By 2039, projections call for that to quadruple to 16% of the total electrical load in the U.S.
Electric vehicles in the U.S. are projected to grow to 92 million and electric-vehicle charging stations will increase by 900% by 2040, according to a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers study1 (Figure 1). With added demand for electricity at night, coupled with increases in transportation safety and crash avoidance though the deployment of C-V2X technology, the need for roadway lighting will substantially diminish in the next 10 to 15 years. Add to all these technological advancements, the rapid and expected increase in AI capabilities over the next two decades.
Opportunities exist for roadway lighting companies to compete for transportation dollars dedicated to the deployment of C-V2X technology. There will be a demand for stationary roadside units that transmit the cellular communications, even on sections of roadway where no roadway lighting currently exists. Of the 160,000 miles in the Federal Highway System, an estimated 113,000 miles are without roadway lighting. New poles dedicated to cellular transmission and reception will be required in these unlit sections. Last year, the FHWA awarded $60 million to three states to begin deployment of C-V2X technology: Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico.
Many vehicle manufacturers around the globe are already incorporating C-V2X technology into new models. New Car Assessment Programs (NCAP) in the European Union required C-V2X technology in vehicles starting in 2024. China also required C-V2X to be installed in all 2024 or newer cars. While the U.S. has not yet included C-V2X in its NCAP standards, Ford, General Motors, and Toyota have each committed to including C-V2X in new U.S. vehicles starting in 2026. This radical transformation will qualify as a truly revolutionary technology and profoundly impact many industries focused on transportation safety—in particular, the need for roadway lighting and vehicle headlights.
A December 2025 article from ITS International shows that C-V2X will also focus on vulnerable road users such as bicyclists.2 The company Spoke Safety is collaborating with Qualcomm and Audi to connect bicyclists with vehicles and the infrastructure, so vehicles will detect cyclist messages. Audi-Volkswagen Group is integrating Qualcomm chipsets for vehicle-to-cyclist communications. Such technology is real, available today, and ready to be deployed.
With C-V2X technology, fully self-driven vehicles will no longer need headlights for safety, since the human driver will not be involved in the operation. Detection lights may be the only lights on FSD vehicles. DarkSky One is a prototype vehicle with controlled headlights, developed by DarkSky International with concept design by Phiaro, to adjust light levels and reduce glare. The yet-to-be introduced DarkSky Two will have no need for traditional headlights, since the vehicle will be fully automated.
Our robotic future has its own trajectory and timeline. The rate of change is accelerating much faster than most of us realize. This reality will become obvious to transportation decision-makers as competition increases for funding over which safety technologies will provide the maximum return in public safety benefits. The end may be soon approaching for roadway lighting’s important role in improving transportation safety, as Connected Vehicle Technology comes into clearer focus.
THE AUTHOR
Leo Smith received the IES Presidential Award in 2006 and served for 12 years as a member of the IES Roadway Lighting Committee.
1 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). “The US Electric Vehicle Charging Market Could Grow Nearly Tenfold by 2030.” Available: https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/industrial-products/library/electric-vehicle-charging-market-growth.html
2 ITS International. “From Cloud to Direct V2X: Protecting Vulnerable Road Users with Connectivity.” Dec. 23, 2025.