WCX 2025: Study Shows Safety Top Priority of Potential Vehicle-To-Everything Consumers

As automakers look to V2X to potentially create new revenue streams, respondents in a survey make it clear that the ability to have car pay for, say, a meal or a coffee is low on their list of priorities.

April 8, 2025

Chris Clonts

An overall look at consumers' priorities in various V2X use case categories. (Poco Labs)

A study released Tuesday afternoon at an SAE World Congress (WCX) Learning Lab indicated that when it comes to vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology, consumers place far greater priority on safety than on transactions and entertainment. The research was sponsored by SAE International, automotive research hub Mcity at the University of Michigan and Poco Labs. It was completed in December. The findings could influence the future of V2X deployment in three key areas.

Safety features

Thomas Pavlak, Poco Labs founder and president. (Chris Clonts)

Safety was the most wanted, frequently cited and most valuable item to consumers. More than half of the survey respondents said safety was their No. 1 priority. For example, road hazard identification topped the list, followed by pedestrian warnings and emergency vehicle notifications. These priorities applied roughly equally across all demographic groups.

Efficiency

Efficiency use cases, such as a vehicle being able to influence the timing of traffic signals and awareness of construction notices, were generally more valued by consumers than the transaction use cases frequently cited by OEMs.

Traffic signal timing was of most interest to respondents living in the suburbs. Collaborative driving, however, appealed more to urban dwellers and early adopters, who tend to drive more highway.

Transactions

The least-desired V2X features surrounded transactions, such as automatic parking locator and payment and auto pay at gas stations. There was interest among younger drivers and early tech adopters. EV owners also showed intense interest in auto pay at charging stations, pointing to a market of possible revenue growth for that kind of transaction support.

Examples of the scenarios that were placed in front of consumers who were asked whether certain V2X use cases would be a priority for them in future vehicles. (Poco Labs)

SAE Media spoke with Thomas Pavlak, founder and president of Poco Labs, ahead of his Tuesday presentation. He said that while transactions were low priorities in the minds of consumers, other developments, such as wide adoption of V2X safety tech, might change their perceptions. “Safety is the foundational pillar of a lot of other experiences that can actually be monetized,” he said, adding that it’s widely known that OEMs want more revenue streams from the vehicles they sell.

He said that after this report, two natural areas in which to do more research are how much people would pay for various features, as well as regional differences in people’s attitudes toward V2x technologies. “A driver in Peoria is going to have a different set of needs than a driver in Los Angeles,” he said.

Pavlak said that at least one area was a hard “no” from consumers, and that was the possibility of V2X tech detecting construction zones and taking control of the car from the driver, even if it meant increased safety. People were loving the idea of construction zone help, but stopped short of saying ‘yes, take over my car,’ “ he said.