Directional visual and audio communication

A method of communicating with at least one person in proximity to a vehicle, comprising:

• detecting, with a perception system in communication with a system controller, a presence of the at least one person in proximity to the vehicle;
• monitoring, with a monitoring system, a position of the at least one person's head and eyes;
• calculating, with a visual compute engine of a holographic image generator in communication with the monitoring system, a holographic image and encoding the holographic image to a display of a picture generating unit (PGU);
• receiving, with a beam steering device, via the visual compute engine, information related to the position of the at least one person's head and eyes from the monitoring system;
• and
• projecting, with the display, based on the information received from the monitoring system, the holographic image to the beam steering device, and, alternately, at a frequency greater than 30 Hz and in sync with the visual compute engine and the display, re-directing, with the beam steering device, the projected holographic image only to the eyes of a first one of the at least one person and then only to a second one of the at least one person within proximity of the vehicle, switching back and forth between the first one of the at least one person and the second one of the at least one person at a frequency greater than 30 Hz.

A vehicle having a system for communicating with at least one person in proximity to the vehicle, comprising:

• a perception system in communication with a system controller, the perception system adapted to detect a presence of the at least one person in proximity to the vehicle;
• a monitoring system in communication with the system controller and adapted to monitor a position of the at least one person's head and eyes;
• a holographic image generator including:
• a visual compute engine in communication with the system controller and the monitoring system and adapted to calculate a holographic image and encode the holographic image to a display of a picture generating unit (PGU) and to encode a lens function into the holographic image based on information received from the monitoring system;
• and
• a beam steering device, wherein:
• the beam steering device is adapted to receive, via the visual compute engine, information related to the position of the at least one person's head and eyes from the monitoring system;
• and
• the display is adapted to, based on the information received from the monitoring system, project the holographic image to the beam steering device and the beam steering device is adapted to alternately re-direct the projected holographic image only to the eyes of a first one of the at least one person and then only to a second one of the at least one person, switching back and forth between the first one of the at least one person and the second one of the at least one person at a frequency greater than 30 Hz, wherein the first one of the at least one person perceives the holographic image floating in front of the first one of the at least one person and, simultaneously, the second one of the at least one person perceives the holographic image floating in front of the second one of the at least one person;
• and
• an audio communication system adapted to support audible communication between the vehicle and the person and including:
• a directional speaker in communication with the system controller and adapted to provide audio output directed to the at least one person;
• an audio compute engine in communication with the monitoring system, the audio compute engine adapted to use a visual speech recognition algorithm in communication with data received from the monitoring system to visually interpret verbal communications from the at least one person;
• and
• a microphone in communication with the system controller and adapted to receive verbal communications from the at least one person.