Vehicular communications is expected to be one of the key applications for cellular networks during the following decades. Key international organizations have already described in detail a number of related use cases, along with their requirements. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of these use cases and a harmonized view of the requirements for the latest and most advanced autonomous driving applications. It also investigates the extent of support that 4G and 5G networks can offer to these use cases in terms of delay and spectrum needs. The paper identifies open issues and discusses trends and potential solutions.

5G system aims to enable vertical industries utilizing network programmability to its full extension. 3 ^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has already established the foundations to provide 5G Core’s capabilities to third parties with Common API Framework (CAPIF) and Service Enabler Layer Architecture (SEAL). Vertical application developers communicate implicitly, through the Network Exposure Function (NEF), to unlock the available services. As more third parties move towards 5G ecosystem, their vertical applications need to be scalable, robust and more secure. Cloud native approach is the key enabler to fulfill those requirements and empower the inherent cloud-native characteristics of the 5GC. This paper investigates how the 5G architecture will support Vertical Application Enablers (VAEs) currently studied in 3GPP Rel.17, and proposes cloud native alternatives regarding VAEs implementation.

5G networks are expected to be a key enabler to support autonomous driving. During the past years, multiple use cases have been defined and several standardized solutions have been specified. Although significant breakthroughs have been achieved, it is still under investigation if existing solutions are able to fully support all requirements for all levels of autonomous driving automation. This paper provides a harmonized view of the requirements for the latest and most advanced autonomous driving use cases. It also investigates the extent of support 5G networks can offer to these use cases in terms of delay and spectrum. The paper identifies open issues and discusses trends and potential solutions that could tackle them.