Communication between autonomous vehicle and external observers

A control system of an autonomous vehicle, the control system comprising:

• at least one hardware processor;
• and
• at least one non-transitory memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one hardware processor, cause the control system to:
• collect, from a sensor coupled to the autonomous vehicle, data that characterizes a surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle;
• determine an intended course of action for the autonomous vehicle to undertake based on an assigned task and the collected data;
• identify, based on the collected data, a driver of another vehicle in the surrounding environment;
• transmit radio frequency based inter-device communication to another control system of the other vehicle,
• wherein the inter-device communication indicates the intended course of action of the autonomous vehicle to the other control system for navigation of the other vehicle;
• display a notification on a ground surface to gain attention of the driver of the other vehicle;
• determine that the driver is paying attention to the autonomous vehicle by analyzing the data;
• project a human understandable output on the ground surface in proximity to the autonomous vehicle;
• determine a location of the driver based on the data for projecting light at the driver;
• and
• project the light at the driver.

A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions recorded thereon that, when executed by at least one processor of a control system of an autonomous vehicle, cause the control system to:

• collect, from a sensor coupled to the autonomous vehicle, data that characterizes a surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle;
• determine an intended course of action for the autonomous vehicle to undertake based on an assigned task and the collected data;
• identify, based on the collected data, a driver of another vehicle in the surrounding environment;
• transmit radio frequency based inter-device communication to another control system of the other vehicle,
• wherein the inter-device communication indicates the intended course of action of the autonomous vehicle to the other control system for navigation of the other vehicle;
• display a notification on a ground surface to gain attention of the driver of the other vehicle;
• determine that the driver is paying attention to the autonomous vehicle by analyzing the data;
• project a human understandable output on the ground surface in proximity to the autonomous vehicle;
• determine a location of the driver based on the data for projecting light at the driver;
• and
• project the light at the driver.