Driving automation external communication location change

A system for displaying at least one external human-machine interface (eHMI) notification to a road user, comprising:

• an autonomous vehicle having a plurality of eHMI displays located at different external positions, wherein the plurality of eHMI displays are configured for independent activation;
• a plurality of sensors configured to generate images of the surrounding environment;
• an image processor configured to generate a global view of the surrounding environment;
• an eye tracking unit configured to track the eye positions of the road user;
• a communications circuitry located with the autonomous vehicle;
• a computing device operatively connected to the image processor, the communications circuitry, the plurality of notification devices, the eye tracker and the plurality of sensors, the computing device including a computer-readable medium comprising program instructions, executable by -processing circuitry, to cause the processing circuitry to:
• determine a head pose and a body posture of the road user from the global image;
• determine a gaze direction of the road user based on the eye positions, the head pose and the body posture of the road user;
• determine a field of view of the road user based on the gaze direction;
• estimate the intent of the road user to move into a trajectory of the autonomous vehicle;
• predict whether the road user has an unoccluded field of view of one of the plurality of eHMI displays located on the autonomous vehicle based on the gaze direction of the road user;
• when the at least one road user has an unoccluded field of view of the EMHI display located on the autonomous vehicle, generate an eHMI notification which includes at least one of a message and a symbol indicating the trajectory of the autonomous vehicle;
• provide the eHMI notification on the eHMI displays which is within an unoccluded field of view of the road user;
• when the eHMI display of the autonomous vehicle is not within the unoccluded view of the at least one road user,
• identify nearby autonomous vehicles within the global view;
• request that the nearby autonomous vehicles form a mesh network with the autonomous vehicle with the autonomous vehicle as a cluster head;
• request, from each nearby autonomous vehicle, recorded images of the environment surrounding the nearby autonomous vehicle;
• receive the recorded images from each nearby autonomous vehicle;
• receive trajectory information from each of the nearby autonomous vehicles;
• stitch together the recorded images and update the global view to form an updated global view of the environment;
• correlate the updated global view with the trajectory information of each of the nearby autonomous vehicles;
• identify an eHMI display on one of the nearby autonomous vehicles which is within an unoccluded field of view of the road user based on the gaze direction of the road user;
• generate a group eHMI notification which includes at least one of a message and a symbol indicating the trajectories of the autonomous vehicle and at least one of the nearby autonomous vehicles;
• and
• transmit the group eHMI notification to the nearby autonomous vehicle having an eHMI display which is within an unoccluded field of view of the road user with a request to display the group eHMI notification on the eHMI display.

A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored therein that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method for displaying by an autonomous vehicle a group at least one external human-machine interface (eHMI) notification to least one road user, comprising:

• recording, by one or more cameras, LiDAR sensors and radar sensors located within the autonomous vehicle, images of an environment surrounding the autonomous vehicle;
• generating, by an image processor connected to the one or more cameras, LiDAR sensors and radar sensors, a global view of the environment based on the images;
• detecting whether there is at least one road user in the global view which is travelling on a trajectory which intersects a trajectory of the autonomous vehicle;
• determining a gaze direction of the at least one road user;
• predicting whether the at least one road user has an unoccluded view of an eHMI display located on the autonomous vehicle based on the gaze direction;
• when it is predicted that the at least one road user has an unoccluded view of the EMHI display located on the autonomous vehicle, generating an eHMI notification which includes at least one of a message and a symbol indicating the trajectory of the autonomous vehicle;
• transmitting the eHMI notification to the eHMI display on the autonomous vehicle which is within the unoccluded view of the gaze direction of the at least one road user;
• when it is predicted that the eHMI display of the autonomous vehicle is not within the unoccluded view of the at least one road user, identifying nearby autonomous vehicles within the global view;
• requesting that the nearby autonomous vehicles form a mesh network with the autonomous vehicle with the autonomous vehicle as a cluster head;
• requesting from each nearby autonomous vehicle, recorded images of the environment surrounding the nearby autonomous vehicle;
• receiving the recorded images from each nearby autonomous vehicle;
• receiving trajectory information from each of the nearby autonomous vehicles;
• stitching together the recorded images and updating the global view to form an updated global view of the environment;
• correlating the updated global view with the trajectory information of each of the nearby autonomous vehicles;
• identifying an eHMI display on one of the nearby autonomous vehicles which is within an unoccluded field of view of the road user based on the gaze direction of the road user;
• generating a group eHMI notification which includes at least one of a message and a symbol indicating the trajectories of the autonomous vehicle and at least one of the nearby autonomous vehicles;
• and
• transmitting the group eHMI notification to the nearby autonomous vehicle having an eHMI display which is within an unoccluded field of view of the road user with a request to display the group eHMI notification on the eHMI display.