System and method for notifying a vehicle occupant about a severity and location of potential vehicle threats

A system for a vehicle, comprising:

• an electronic display configured for viewing by a driver of the vehicle;
• at least one sensor configured to obtain information indicative of an environment surrounding the vehicle;
• and
• a computing device operatively connected to the electronic display and at least one sensor, and configured to:
• determine, based on the information from the at least one sensor, a potential threat to the vehicle, a severity level of the potential threat, and a location of the potential threat relative to the vehicle;
• and
• display an indication of the potential threat on the electronic display in a particular portion of the electronic display corresponding to the location, and with a particular display attribute corresponding to the severity level;
• wherein:
• the particular portion is one of a plurality of different portions of the electronic display each corresponding to different respective threat locations around the vehicle, and the particular display attribute is one of a plurality of different display attributes corresponding to different severity levels;
• to determine the location of the potential threat, the computing device is configured to determine which of a plurality of border areas of the vehicle is closest to the potential threat;
• and
• the particular portion of the electronic display corresponds to the determined border area.

A method comprising:

• detecting a potential threat to a vehicle that is external to the vehicle;
• determining a severity level of the potential threat and a location of the potential threat relative to the vehicle;
• selecting one of a plurality of border regions of an electronic display in the vehicle corresponding to the location, wherein each of the plurality of border regions corresponds to different respective threat locations around the vehicle;
• and
• based on the detecting, determining, and selecting, illuminating the selected border region of the electronic display using a color corresponding to the severity level of the potential threat.