Car emoji: which one to use
Automobile is the car emoji, a red hatchback seen from the side on almost every platform. Sport Utility Vehicle is the blue SUV, Racing Car the Formula-style racer, Taxi the yellow cab and Pickup Truck (added in 2020) the truck with an open bed. are the same vehicles seen head-on, as if they're coming toward you.
Emergency vehicles have their own set: police car, ambulance, fire engine and the rotating police light, which people also use as an "alert" or "breaking news" sign. For work and delivery there are delivery truck, articulated lorry and tractor.
Car emoji meaning in texts
In a chat, usually means "on my way", "I'm driving" or "come pick me up", depending on who sends it: 🚗💨 is "leaving now", 🚗? is asking for a ride. Getting a from a crush or a friend is almost always about a ride or a drive together, not a hidden message.
Other vehicles have picked up slang of their own. means something is about to take off ("to the moon" in crypto and stock chats), stands for aliens and weirdness, and in some slang has a sexual meaning, so read the context before sending a train to a group chat.
Public transport emoji: trains, buses and planes
Trains come in many versions: a regular train, high-speed, the Japanese bullet train with its long nose, metro, tram, monorail, mountain railway and the steam locomotive. is a station, a bus stop. Buses are , trolleybus and minibus; is the auto rickshaw of South Asia.
In the air: airplane, small plane, departure, arrival, helicopter, cable cars, parachute. On water: ship, passenger ship, ferry, speedboat, motor boat, sailboat, canoe, anchor and ring buoy.
Car symbols and road signs in plain text
Besides colour emoji, Unicode has older black-and-white vehicle symbols that take the colour of the text: black truck, disabled car, car sliding, oncoming fire engine, diesel locomotive and the airplanes . The road-sign set came from Japanese broadcasting (ARIB) symbols and was added in Unicode 5.2 in 2009.
Dashboard warning lights (check engine, oil, battery) are not Unicode characters, so there is no way to copy and paste them; the closest emoji are oil drum, battery, fuel pump and warning. Car brand logos are not in Unicode either.
Symbols
103Click a symbol to copy it and open its page.
How to use them
6 situationsClick to copy 10 min is the shortest "I'm coming". Use if you took a cab, or if you're stuck on transit. delayed again.Car & Transport Emoji combos
14Worth knowing
- Most transport emoji come in pairs: a side view ( ) and a head-on "oncoming" view ( ). The oncoming versions are handy for "coming to get you".
- Pickup Truck and Wheel are recent: the pickup arrived in 2020 (Emoji 13.0) and the wheel in 2021 (Emoji 14.0), together with Ring Buoy.
- The road-sign symbols were encoded from the ARIB standard used in Japanese digital TV broadcasts, which needed traffic-information pictograms.
- Bullet Train takes its name from the Japanese shinkansen, which English speakers nicknamed the bullet train; most platforms draw it with the shinkansen's long, rounded nose.
Questions people ask
7How do I copy and paste the car emoji?
Tap or click (or any vehicle here) to copy it, then paste it into your message. On iPhone and Android it is also under Travel & Places on the emoji keyboard.
What does the car emoji mean from a girl or a guy?
Usually exactly what it shows: "I'm driving", "on my way" or "want a ride?". It has no common romantic or hidden meaning; context and the emoji next to it decide.
What are good car emoji combos?
for leaving, for a new car, for a road trip, for racing and for a car wash.
Is there a black and white car symbol I can copy?
Yes: black truck, disabled car and car sliding are plain-text symbols. For the airplane, use or . They show in the font's colour instead of full colour.
What are the public transport emoji?
bus, trolleybus, train, metro, tram, monorail, station, bus stop and ferry.
Are dashboard warning symbols available as emoji?
No. Dashboard lights are not part of Unicode, so they can't be copied as text. The nearest emoji are for oil, for battery, for fuel and for a general warning.
What does the train emoji mean in slang?
Most of the time or just means a train trip. In some slang has a sexual meaning, so check the context before using it with people you don't know well.
