What’s next for automotive connectivity after 5G?

What's next for automotive connectivity after 5G?

Most automakers are still in the early stages of deploying 5G-connected vehicles. Yet the industry is already defining what comes next.

In the 2030s, 6G is expected to support a new era of automotive connectivity, where vehicles don't just exchange data but collaborate with other vehicles, infrastructure and cloud platforms in real time.

While 5G is enabling connected car services and software-defined vehicles today, future autonomous mobility systems will demand faster decision-making, greater network intelligence and seamless connectivity across terrestrial and satellite networks. That's why suppliers, industry groups and standards bodies such as 3GPP or the 3rd Generation Partnership Project, have already begun laying the foundations for 6G.

Why tomorrow’s vehicles may need more than 5G

5G is enabling a new generation of connected vehicles through enhanced mobile broadband, low-latency vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications, edge computing, network slicing, OTA software updates, cloud-connected SDVs and more.

However, future autonomous vehicles will place far greater demands on automotive connectivity. They will need to continuously share sensor data and real-time environmental information with other vehicles, infrastructure and cloud platforms. That could mean managing terabytes of data every day while making safety-critical decisions in milliseconds.

As automation advances beyond today’s ADAS capabilities toward Level 4 and Level 5 autonomous driving, current 5G architectures may struggle when supporting millions of simultaneously connected vehicles in dense urban environments. That’s where 6G enters the conversation.

Four capabilities that could shape automotive connectivity

1. How 6G could help connected vehicles share awareness, not just data

While 5G targets end-to-end latencies below 10 milliseconds for many applications, 6G research is targeting sub-millisecond latency, potentially reaching microsecond-scale response times for critical functions.

Combined with significantly higher data throughput, this could allow autonomous vehicles to exchange camera feeds, LiDAR point clouds, radar maps and other real-time sensor data almost instantaneously.

The goal goes beyond faster communication, enabling what researchers refer to as collective perception, where vehicles, infrastructure and other road users share awareness of their surroundings. In practice, this could allow a vehicle to detect hazards around blind corners, anticipate traffic conditions beyond its own sensors, or coordinate movements with nearby vehicles and infrastructure.

These capabilities could support emerging use cases such as:

• Cooperative perception networks that fuse sensor data from vehicles and roadside infrastructure
• Collective driving intelligence that creates a shared real-time view of traffic conditions
• Swarm mobility, where fleets of self-driving vehicles coordinate movements dynamically
• Digital road infrastructure that shares live information on road conditions, incidents and traffic flows

This would expand today's V2X systems beyond basic message exchange – across Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V), Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I), Vehicle-to-Network (V2N) and Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P) communications – toward a more collaborative transportation ecosystem.

2. AI could become part of automotive connectivity networks

One of the biggest differences between 5G and 6G is that artificial intelligence is expected to be become embedded within the network itself.

Rather than networks simply transporting data, future networks may predict congestion, prioritize safety-critical communications, dynamically allocate resources and optimize routing based on vehicle movement patterns.

For automakers, this could support more reliable connected services and predictive network quality, context-aware communication, autonomous fleet optimization and intelligent edge resource management.

3. Connectivity and sensing could converge

Future cellular infrastructure may do more than connect vehicles for communication. They could help detect and interpret the surrounding environment.

Through Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC), cellular infrastructure may be able to monitor vehicle movements, traffic density, road conditions and pedestrian activity while simultaneously providing connectivity. This could create an additional layer of environmental awareness beyond the vehicle's onboard sensors.

4. Coverage gaps could become less visible

One key lesson emerging from current automotive deployments is that network coverage gaps remain unavoidable.

6G is expected to integrate cellular networks, Low Earth Orbit satellites, high-altitude platforms and roadside infrastructure into a single seamless connectivity fabric. Automotive users may not know whether connectivity is coming from a 6G cellular site, a satellite, an edge node or a roadside unit. The network will automatically select the optimal link.

Current demonstrations by the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA) already show how satellite communications can complement terrestrial automotive connectivity, providing a foundation for future 6G architectures.

What 6G could mean for connected services and software-defined vehicles

Digital twins and connected vehicles

6G may enable real-time digital twins of vehicles and transportation systems. A digital twin could continuously synchronize metrics such as vehicle health status, sensor data, driving behavior, road conditions, battery performance, etc. This could enable automakers predict failures before they occur, simulate software deployments, optimize fleet operations and improve autonomous driving algorithms. This capability aligns closely with the software-defined vehicle vision currently emerging across the industry.

New automotive business models

6G will likely move automotive connectivity from a support function to a primary revenue generator, enabling vehicles to become participants in broader digital ecosystems rather than isolated transportation devices. Potential services may include autonomous mobility subscriptions, premium cooperative safety services, real-time insurance products, AI copilots, HD map subscriptions, vehicle cloud computing services and connected logistics optimization, among others.

Evolution from 5G to 6G will be gradual, and challenging

Automotive connectivity is unlikely to move directly from 5G to 6G. After 5G reaches maturity and older cellular networks are phased out, the vehicle will increasingly use a heterogeneous multi-network connectivity architecture combining 5G-Advanced/RedCap, 6G, V2X, satellite non-terrestrial networks (NTN), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth/UWB and edge computing.

Importantly, 5G itself is unlikely to simply "sunset" globally at one point. Older 3G/4G networks will be retired region by region, while 5G will coexist with 5G-Advanced and eventually 6G. For example, Marelli is already positioning 5G RedCap as an affordable replacement path as 4G networks begin to be phased out in some regions around 2030.

By 2030, nearly all new vehicles are expected to have embedded connectivity, and 5G TCUs are projected to account for most shipments, according to Mobility Global data.

Why future vehicles should be designed to outlive individual cellular generations

The biggest challenge for OEMs may be ensuring vehicles launched today are ready for the connectivity technologies that follow.

Vehicles often remain on the road for more than a decade, while wireless standards continue to evolve. As a result, future vehicles may need to be designed to outlive individual cellular generations, with modular and upgradeable connectivity hardware and software rather than connectivity systems tied to a fixed-generation TCU.

When the first commercial automotive 6G deployments arrive in the early-to-mid 2030s, they are expected to support far more than faster connectivity. By combining communications, sensing, AI, edge computing and satellite networking, 6G could take connectivity from a supporting technology into part of the vehicle's intelligence itself.

If 5G connected the vehicle, 6G could help vehicles, infrastructure and cloud platforms think and act together. That vision may still be years away, but the foundations are already being laid today.