Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communications are redefining road safety, traffic management, and autonomous mobility. International standards bodies have unambiguously chosen IPv6 as the network layer for connected transport. As Malaysia builds its 5G infrastructure and advances autonomous vehicle testing, the IPv6 readiness of highway operators and transport agencies becomes a strategic prerequisite — not a technical afterthought.
V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) is the umbrella term for communications between a vehicle and any element of its environment: other vehicles (V2V), road infrastructure (V2I), pedestrians (V2P), networks (V2N), and grid systems (V2G). V2X underpins applications including forward collision warnings, emergency brake alerts, intersection safety, intelligent traffic signal control, and cooperative adaptive cruise control.
The network layer — how data packets are addressed and routed between V2X stations — directly determines whether these applications can scale to millions of vehicles, operate without a centralised controller, and communicate globally. IPv4's exhausted address space and dependence on NAT create insurmountable obstacles for vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure direct communication at scale. IPv6 addresses these structurally.
The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) — whose Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) standards are the global reference framework for V2X — has formally designated IPv6 as the primary IP version for connected transport infrastructure.
"The ETSI Technical Committee ITS recognizes IP version 6 (IPv6) as the primary version of IP to be necessarily supported by ITS stations."
ETSI EN 302 636-6-1 — Transmission of IPv6 Packets over GeoNetworking ProtocolsETSI EN 302 636-6-1 defines the GeoNetworking to IPv6 Adaptation Sub-Layer (GN6ASL), which enables IPv6 transport over the GeoNetworking protocol — the radio-agnostic network layer used in V2X communications. This standard explicitly supports IPv6 geocasting to geographic areas, IPv6 multicast for V2I broadcast scenarios, and mobile IPv6 (NEMO, RFC 3963) for vehicles acquiring global IPv6 addresses as they move between infrastructure zones.
| ETSI Standard | Relevance to IPv6 in V2X |
|---|---|
| EN 302 636-1 | ITS-G5 communications architecture; defines protocol stacks including "GeoNetworking + IPv6" |
| EN 302 636-4-1 | GeoNetworking Common Header — includes IPv6 Next Header option |
| EN 302 636-6-1 | IPv6 transmission over GeoNetworking; defines GN6ASL; mandates IPv6 support |
| EN 302 636-3 | ITS station architecture; specifies combination of GeoNetworking and IPv6 in protocol stack |
Why IPv6 specifically? The architecture of V2X demands it. SLAAC (Stateless Address Autoconfiguration) enables vehicles to self-configure IPv6 addresses without a DHCP server — critical for mobile, ad-hoc vehicular networks where persistent connectivity to a central server cannot be assumed. Mandatory IPsec support (per RFC 6434) provides native message authentication. And native IPv6 multicast — more efficient than IPv4 IGMP for one-to-many V2I broadcasts — is the mechanism by which roadside units transmit safety messages to all vehicles in range simultaneously.
Malaysia has made concrete progress in connected vehicle infrastructure, though V2X deployments on public highways remain in early-stage development:
In 2020, Malaysia approved its first autonomous vehicle (AV) testing routes — a 7 km stretch of public road in Cyberjaya — under a National Regulatory Sandbox framework. The programme is supported by MIROS (Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research), MARii (Malaysia Automotive, Robotics and IoT Institute), JPJ, and APAD, with vehicles required to carry safety drivers and to comply with the Road Transport Act 1987 (which has no specific AV provision, though new legislation is under development).
The Malaysia Research Accelerator for Technology and Innovation (MRANTI) opened Malaysia's largest multi-scenario autonomous vehicle experimental laboratory in November 2023, featuring 5G connectivity and sensor infrastructure for AV testing. Partners include MIROS, MARii, and Futurise.
In September 2024, an eMooVit autonomous bus demonstration was held at Futurise Centre, Cyberjaya, with 5G connectivity supported by DNB and Ericsson. Transport Minister Anthony Loke attended, signalling government attention to connected transport infrastructure. No commercial AV or V2X services on public highways resulted from this demonstration.
PLUS Expressway launched Malaysia's first Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) barrier-free tolling pilot on the North-South Expressway in January 2026, covering an 87.7 km stretch between Hutan Kampung and Sungai Dua. While this is a meaningful step toward connected highway infrastructure, ANPR tolling is distinct from V2X — it does not involve bidirectional vehicle-to-infrastructure communication for safety applications.
As of early 2026, Malaysia does not yet have an operational V2X deployment on public highways. Roadside Unit (RSU) infrastructure for dedicated short-range or C-V2X communications has not been announced on any Malaysian expressway. The country's AV and connected vehicle efforts are centred on controlled testing environments in Cyberjaya.
Several countries have moved beyond testing into operational V2X deployments — all built on IPv6 as the underlying network layer per ETSI standards:
| Country / Region | Deployment Scale | Technology |
|---|---|---|
| China | 90+ cities with RSU deployment; 5,000+ km V2X demonstration roads; 270,000+ C-V2X equipped vehicles (2023) | C-V2X (LTE-V / 5G NR-V2X) |
| EU — Austria | 525 RSUs deployed on motorways | ITS-G5 (DSRC) / C-V2X hybrid |
| South Korea | 2,400 km expressway C-ITS deployment plan; C-V2X selected Dec 2023 | C-V2X |
| Japan | Automated truck platoon demo on Shin-Tomei Expressway (2024); Nissan/Continental C-V2X trials | C-V2X + DSRC |
| EU — Portugal/Italy | C-Roads Platform highway pilots (A22, A4, A28 corridors) | ITS-G5 / C-V2X |
In all these deployments, IPv6 operates as the assumed underlying addressing protocol, per ETSI's mandate. It is not marketed as a feature — it is an architectural requirement. The lesson for Malaysia is that IPv6 readiness at the infrastructure level (RSU hardware, backend traffic management systems, 5G network configuration) must precede V2X deployment, not follow it.
The architecture of V2X communications makes IPv4 a practical impossibility at national scale:
When Malaysia's highway operators and government agencies move toward V2X deployment, IPv6 readiness will be a prerequisite at multiple layers:
IPv6 is the network foundation that makes connected highway infrastructure possible. My6 Initiative Berhad has been assessing and deploying IPv6 across Malaysian government and infrastructure networks since 2010. As Malaysia's transport ecosystem evolves toward V2X, highway operators, traffic management agencies, and transport ministries will require IPv6 readiness assessments, dual-stack transition planning, and security hardening aligned to ITS standards. Contact My6 at [email protected] to discuss your organisation's IPv6 infrastructure readiness for the connected transport era.