Connected Roads of the Future: Use Cases, Requirements, and Design Considerations for Vehicle-to-Everything Communications

The ultimate goal of next-generation vehicle-toeverything (V2X) communication systems is enabling accident-free, cooperative automated driving that uses the available roadway efficiently. To achieve this goal, the communication system will need to enable a diverse set of use cases, each with a specific set of requirements. We discuss the main usecase categories, analyze their requirements, and compare them against the capabilities of currently available communication technologies. Based on the analysis, we identify a gap and indicate possible system designs for the fifth-generation (5G) V2X that could close the gap. Furthermore, we discuss an architecture of the 5G V2X radio access network (RAN) that incorporates diverse communication technologies, including current and cellular systems in centimeter wave (cm-wave) and millimeter wave (mm-wave), IEEE Standard 802.11p [1], and vehicular visible light communications (VVLC). Finally, we discuss the role of future 5G V2X systems in enabling more efficient vehicular transportation: from improved traffic flow and reduced intervehicle spacing on highways to coordinated intersections in cities (the cheapest way to increasing the road capacity) to automated smart parking (no more visits to the parking garage!), all of which will ultimately enable seamless end-to-end personal mobility.