Evaluating LTE-V2X Transition Strategies for South Korea’s Hybrid C-ITS Environment: A KPI-Based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Framework

The transition toward next-generation Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communication technologies has become a critical challenge in the evolution of Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS), particularly in countries with substantial existing C-ITS infrastructure investments. South Korea provides a representative case, having deployed WAVE-based and hybrid WAVE/LTE C-ITS infrastructure while recently adopting LTE-V2X as its future national communication platform. This study proposes a strategic decision-support framework for evaluating LTE-V2X transition strategies within an existing hybrid C-ITS infrastructure environment. Three transition strategies were evaluated using a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) framework based on six key performance indicators (KPIs): Compatibility, Cost Efficiency, Scalability, Deployment Readiness, Sustainability, and Future Service Interoperability. The results indicate that the Gradual LTE-V2X Transition via Hybrid Operation achieved the highest overall evaluation score by balancing infrastructure reuse, migration cost, operational continuity, and future scalability. Sensitivity analysis further showed that the preferred strategy remained stable under alternative weighting scenarios, supporting the robustness of the proposed evaluation framework. Rather than treating the WAVE–LTE-V2X issue as a purely technical comparison, this study frames it as a national infrastructure transition problem. The proposed framework provides practical guidance for policymakers and infrastructure managers seeking evidence-based and sustainable pathways for V2X communication technology transitions.