Santosh Iyer, MD and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India

Carmakers such as Mercedes-Benz India and JSW MG Motor India have said that the government has to work on the right regulations for technologies like vehicle-to-anything (V2X) to enable original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to roll out products accordingly.

“We have always been advocating for such technologies and some of our cars in India like the S-Class and many other cars already have it built-in. So, I think it’s a welcome move to free-up some spectrum and ensure if any complications arise. It also paves the way in the long run for autonomous vehicles with spectrum and radar frequencies,” Santosh Iyer, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mercedes-Benz India told businessline.

He said India is way behind on the curve on this front, but the government is moving in the right direction to free up some of the frequencies and bands, to be used for such technologies in cars.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT), through Gazette notifications last month, de-licensed spectrum bands for automotive radar and vehicle-to-everything (V2X or V2I) communications, clearing the regulatory path for next-generation road safety technology in India.

The DoT also notified on-boarding units enabling Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) communication in the 5875-5905 MHz band (or 5.875-5.925 GHz band), where radar gives a vehicle the ability to sense its immediate surroundings.

In another notification, the DoT gave a go-ahead for the 77–81 GHz frequency band, used for short-range automotive radar systems.

Now, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is working on the norms and guidelines, before making the regulations.

Anurag Mehrotra, Managing Director, JSW MG Motor India, also said MG’s electric vehicle Windsor also has V2V technology, wherein the cars can communicate with each other in times of any emergency, but V2X technology would take some more time.

“The concept of V2X as a technology is still some time away. I haven’t seen live cases of V2X... we have to wait for some more time as V2X has to come with a lot of regulations. We also have to partner with an operator (telecom services provider)... we have to wait and see,” Mehrotra added.

But, as technology grows and is built into cars, the carmakers also have to be mindful of cybersecurity concerns, which Mercedes-Benz India’s Iyer said is well taken care of.

“I think for the passenger car industry, protocols are very high anyways globally, and India is also aligned to those protocols and global conventions, so I don’t see any challenge on passenger cars... Cars have enough protection for any vulnerability and generally cars are designed with a manual today for any failure, generally,” Iyer added.

Published on July 25, 2026