The automotive industry is evolving toward connected and autonomous vehicles that offer many benefits, such as improved safety, less traffic congestion, less environmental impacts and lower capital expenditure. A key enabler of this evolution is vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, which allows a vehicle to communicate with other vehicles, pedestrians, road-side equipment and the Internet. With V2X, critical information can be exchanged among vehicles to improve situation awareness and thus avoid accidents. Furthermore, V2X provides reliable access to the vast information available in the cloud. For example, realtime traffic, sensor and high-definition mapping data can be made available, which is useful not only for today’s drivers but will be essential for navigating self-driving vehicles in the future. The paper’s first section describes the current status of V2X, with a focus on the Americas region. It also provides insights into how emerging 5G technologies will accelerate the realization of advanced V2X communication to improve transportation experience and quality of life. For example, 5G-based V2X is expected to enable very high throughput, high reliability, low latency and accurate position determination use cases. Some of the use cases will involve 5G working in tandem with other technologies including cameras, radar and lidar. Cellular V2X Communications Towards 5G describes these use cases, starting with the advanced driving categories identified in 3GPP, including ranging/positioning, extended sensors, platooning and remote driving. The paper also describes how mobile network operators, vehicle manufacturers, cloud service providers and regulatory bodies can work together to deliver a brand-new experience for drivers, travelers and other road users in the near future.