India witnesses nearly 5 lakh road accidents and 1.7 lakh deaths every year on an average. This translates into around 1,370 accidents and 465 deaths every day or 57 accidents and 19 deaths every hour. The gravity of the situation is captured in the latest annual report on road accidents released by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH), which puts the number of lives lost in the five-year period from 2020 to 2024 at over 8.1 lakh. In 2024 alone, there were 4.87 lakh road crashes claiming 1.77 lakh lives and leaving 4.71 lakh people injured.
The number of accidents and fatalities has been rising steadily year-on-year despite sustained awareness campaigns and enforcement measures for road safety.
Could they have been prevented? Road accidents occur due to a combination of factors, including poor road design, engineering deficiencies and irresponsible road-user behaviour. An emerging technology called Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication offers hope as it has the potential to prevent crashes and save lives.
What is V2V
Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication is a wireless system for vehicles to ‘talk’ to each other by exchanging real-time safety-related information on speed, location, direction, and braking status. It alerts drivers about potential hazards and help avoid collisions and other dangers. The technology is said to have the potential to reduce road accidents by as much as 80%.
According to a recently released draft standards for V2V, these communication systems can be installed on both commercial and passenger vehicles, including two-wheelers. The cost of the V2V device is estimated to range between ₹5,000 and ₹7,000. Initially, the system will be fitted on new vehicles; later, older vehicles would be brought under the mandate.
How it works
The V2V technology is designed to enhance road safety by enabling vehicles to alert drivers about potential safety hazards. These alerts can include warnings about stationary vehicles on the road, sudden braking by vehicles ahead, blind spots, lane-change risks, and possible collision scenarios. By providing timely warnings, the system is expected to help the person behind the wheel take corrective action and considerably reduce the probability of crashes.
A major advantage is that V2V does not depend on third-party communication networks such as cellular or mobile services. It operates under a dedicated radio frequency spectrum in the 5,875–5,905 MHz band, provided by the Department of Telecommunications for the purpose. This means vehicles can communicate with each other even when there is no mobile network coverage.
The V2V equipment is an on-board Unit (OBU) — a small SIM-like device. This electronic transponder acts as the ‘brain and eyes’ of the car. It can establish communication within a radius of up to 1 km and provide a 360-degree awareness of nearby vehicles.
As the vehicle moves, it keeps sharing alerts such as its location, speed, direction, and whether it is applying brakes or accelerating. At the same time, it also receives the same information from other vehicles in the vicinity. If the V2V system senses that another vehicle is coming too close, suddenly halting, or approaching from a blind spot, it instantly sends warning signals to the driver. In vehicles with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), these warnings can also help the car automatically reduce speed or avoid potential danger.
Critical use cases
V2V systems can also be helpful in adverse weather conditions such as dense fog, heavy rainfall, dust storms or smog, which often lead to low visibility on roads. Invisibility on roads due to blind spots or environmental conditions is one of the biggest contributors to crashes.
According to the road ministry’s annual statistics, 'hit from back collisions’ accounted for the largest share of total road accidents at 23.4%, followed by ‘head-on collisions’ at 17.3% and ‘hit from side’ at 15.8%. ‘Hit from back’ was the leading cause in terms of fatalities also, accounting for 21.1% of total road accident deaths, followed by ‘hit and run’ at 19.2%, while ‘head-on collisions’ accounted for 16% fatalities in 2024. Although ‘hit and run’ cases constituted 14.1% of the total road accidents, they accounted for a higher share of fatalities at 19.2%.
Draft standards for V2V
The draft standards for V2V, released on June 11 for stakeholders’ feedback and comments, lay down the technical, functional, performance, environmental and security requirements for the communication devices.
According to the draft, the standard applies to vehicles of categories L (motor vehicles with less than four wheels, primarily 2-3 wheelers and light quadricycles), M (motor vehicles with at least four wheels used primarily for the carriage of passengers) and N (motor vehicles with at least four wheels that are used for carrying goods.
What next
In India, a technical committee under the roads ministry has discussed V2V and decided to formulate an Automotive Industry Standard (AIS) to approve vehicles equipped with such devices. The ministry will notify the standards for India after finalisation. Already, the technology is in use or is undergoing regulatory implementation in the US, Japan, China, South Korea, and the European Union.