5G for Vehicular Communications

5G is ongoing, and it is an emerging platform that not only aims to augment existing but also introduce a plethora of novel applications that require ultra-reliable low-latency communication. It is a new radio access technology that provides building blocks to retrofit existing platforms (e.g., 2G, 3G, 4G, and WiFi) for greater coverage, accessibility, and higher network density with respect to cells and devices. It implies that 5G aims to satisfy a diverse set of communication requirements of the various stakeholders. Among the stakeholders, vehicles, in particular, will benefit from 5G at both the system and application levels. The authors present a tutorial perspective on vehicular communications using the building blocks provided by 5G. First, we identify and describe key requirements of emerging vehicular communications and assess existing standards to determine their limitations. Then we provide a glimpse of the adopted 5G architecture and identify some of its promising salient features for vehicular communications. Finally, key 5G building blocks (i.e., proximity services, mobile edge computing and network slicing) are explored in the context of vehicular communications, and associated design challenges are highlighted.