In a V2X environment, message processing and data visualization are key technologies influencing both real and perceived performance and usability of a system. V2X safety applications require frequent exchange of position information by means of so called Cooperative Awareness Messages (CAMs) or Basic Safety Messages (BSMs). These messages are generated, encoded and sent by all vehicles and corresponding actions have to be executed on receiving vehicles. The in-vehicle V2X system can be divided into several components. Our approach is based on a “two-component” system, consisting of a vehicle-integrated V2X communication unit (onboard unit, OBU) and a personal portable device (PPD), such as a smart phone or tablet PC. Subject of this work is the investigation how to distribute the workload and functionality between the two components. Our goal is to find a flexible solution that maximizes the overall performance and reliability of the system. We investigate and compare several message processing approaches and try to combine the strengths of both components. As a result, we present our final setup that can handle an up to 40 times
higher message rate compared to other investigated solutions.