This paper proposes a secure address configuration protocol for IPv6-based vehicular networks. In this protocol, the network architecture is proposed. In this architecture, a vehicle obtains a unique address from a neighbor vehicle or an access point without DAD, and a leaving vehicle's address space can be automatically reclaimed for reassignment. Based on this architecture, the address configuration algorithm is presented. In this algorithm, an access point or a vehicle owns the unique address space and assigns a unique address to a neighbor vehicle without DAD, so the address configuration cost and delay are lowered. The identification of a vehicle can be authenticated, so the security is achieved. This paper evaluates the performance of this protocol. The data results show that this protocol effectively improves the address configuration performance. 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York.