IEEE Access Special Section Editorial: 5G and Beyond Mobile Wireless Communications Enabling Intelligent Mobility

Increasing urbanization is one major trend that shapes tomorrow’s society; by 2050, more than 85% of the developed world’s population will live in a comparatively small number of ever-growing cities. Within such cities and their commuter belts, reliable high-rate wireless communication will not only be required for (quasi-) static users but also for hosts of people moving in public and private transportation networks. Yet, wireless connectivity is not restricted to people; frictionless functioning of such a society in motion is supported by Intelligent Mobility, where each connected transportation vehicle (car, train, bus, ship, aircraft, motorcycle, and bicycle) is expected to be a smart object equipped with a powerful multi-sensor platform, communication capability, computing units, and Internet protocol (IP)-based connectivity, such as to be highly efficient in various vehicular and transportation applications. This vision requires a more pervasive and ubiquitous communications and networking core, which will not be only driven by the existing research on 5G but also enabled by future mobile wireless communications that employ new concepts, such as data analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud computing. Therefore, this IEEE Access Special Section focuses on various theoretical and experimental views on researching and developing the required technological enhancements of 5G and beyond mobile wireless communications, to efficiently support the vision of intelligent mobility, providing mobility as a service, and enabling dependable Internet services. Twenty-three high-quality contributions to this Special Section have been selected in a strict peer-review process supported by reputed international experts.