Vehicle communication using light projections

A method for vehicle-to-vehicle communication, the method comprising:

• receiving, by a first electronic control unit (ECU) coupled to a first vehicle, data indicating at least one of a vehicle condition, a passenger condition, or a roadway condition;
• encoding, by the first ECU, a message that includes the data using a binary communication protocol that employs on-off modulation of a first light emitter and a second light emitter, the binary communication protocol defining binary symbols that are represented by discrete illumination intervals and non-illumination intervals to create a first light pattern;
• and
• generating, by the first ECU, the first light pattern as a sequence of light-on and light-off states using the first light emitter and the second light emitter simultaneously to communicate the message to an adjacent vehicle, the message configured to be received by the adjacent vehicle using optical pattern recognition of the first light pattern, and the first light emitter includes one of a head light for the vehicle, a tail light for the vehicle, a brake light for the vehicle, a hazard light for the vehicle, an infrared light for the vehicle, or a turn signal light for the vehicle and the second light emitter is the infrared light.