Adaptive computing capabilities enable a wide range of new applications in cyber-physical systems. This is often based on smart communication techniques. In this talk, we focus on novel approaches in the context of smart cities using vehicular networking technology as a basis for cooperative maneuvers on the road. With the standardization of the DSRC/WAVE protocol stack, the vehicular networking community converged to a common understanding of data dissemination schemes that already have high potentials for many applications. Yet, vehicular networks are way more dynamic than originally considered. Radio signal fading and shadowing effects need to be considered in the entire design process as well as the strong need for low-latency communication, fairness, and robustness. In the main part of the talk, examples or basic building blocks for such new IVC protocol will be presented. Putting two application examples into the focus of the discussion, namely intersection warning systems and platooning, we will see that careful congestion control might be counterproductive for safety applications relying on hard real-time capabilities. The optimization goal is to make full use of the wireless channel but prevent overload situations, i.e., collisions, reducing the performance of the transmissions.