Researchers in both academia and industry are increasingly interested in vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, because they enable numerous safety systems and end-user applications. To gain a better understanding of vehicular communication, we solicited input from experts, interviewing Wieland Holfelder, vice president and chief technology officer of DaimlerChrysler Research and Technology North America, and Jean-Pierre Hubaux, a professor of communication systems at the École Polytechnique Fédéral de Lausanne. We also received short articles from Timo Kosch and Markus Strassberger of BWM Group Research and Technology and from Ken Laberteaux, Lorenzo Caminiti, Derek Caveney, and Hideki Hada of Toyota. Collectively, these four pieces indicate a growing momentum in vehicular communication, although many open questions remain. This department is part of a special issue on Intelligent Transportation.