Softwarization, Virtualization, and Machine Learning for Intelligent and Effective Vehicle-to-Everything Communications

The concept of the 5G mobile network system has emerged in recent years as telecommunication operators and service providers look to upgrade their infrastructure and delivery modes to meet the growing demand. Concepts such as softwarization, virtualization, and machine learning will be key components as innovative and flexible enablers of such networks. In particular, paradigms such as software-defined networks, software-defined perimeters, cloud and edge computing, and network function virtualization will play a major role in addressing several of the challenges of 5G networks, especially in terms of flexibility, programmability, scalability, and security. In this article, the role and potential of these paradigms in the context of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication is discussed. This article provides an overview and background of V2X communications and then a detailed discussion of the various challenges facing V2X communications and some of the previous studies done to tackle them. Finally, the article describes how softwarization, virtualization, and machine learning can be adapted to tackle the challenges of such networks.