Information Revealed by Vision: A Review on the Next-Generation OCC Standard for AIoV

The artificial intelligence of vehicles (AIoV) paradigm defines an AI-empowered computational and communication platform in which vehicles, pedestrians, roadside units, and network infrastructures interact with each other to fashion transportation ecosystems. However, the communication technologies that are currently available continue to be plagued by practical problems, such as high-cost implementation and upgrades, thereby constraining this development. In this regard, optical camera communication (OCC) is emerging as a promising technology with excellent compatibility. In particular, OCC utilizes the light sources and cameras that are already incorporated with existing devices to act as transceivers, obviating the need for additional specialized hardware. In this article, we describe the current status of OCC standardization and applicable AIoV scenarios. Then, the characteristics of OCCs are analyzed, including channel modeling, adaptive modulation, region-of-interest anchoring, and image enhancement. Finally, open challenges are presented to drive future research on improving OCC performance realizing the AIoV paradigm.