The Search for Relevance: A Context-Aware Paradigm Shift in Semantic and Task-Oriented V2X Communications

Abstract: The design of communication systems has traditionally focused on the reliable and timely delivery of data. However, the scalability challenges faced by the evolution to a 6G-driven society demand new communication paradigms that carefully curate the content being transmitted. This paper envisions a joint semantic and task-oriented communication paradigm where Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) transmit only the information necessary to convey the desired meaning that is relevant to the intended receivers based on the communication context. The V2X domain offers a unique environment for the development of the envisioned semantic and task-oriented communications paradigm, as CAVs are native semantic devices, and the V2X domain is rich in contextual information. This contextual information can be leveraged to estimate the relevance that information may have for the intended receivers. We illustrate and quantitatively evaluate the potential benefits of semantic and task-oriented V2X communications. Numerical results show that by focusing on the transmission of the most relevant information for the intended receivers, semantic and task-oriented V2X communications can achieve a two-fold improvement in communication efficiency, which will significantly benefit the scalability of V2X networks.