Methods for communicating state, intent, and context of an autonomous vehicle

A method comprising, at a vehicle:

• recording a sensor stream via a sensor suite coupled to the vehicle;
• at a first time:
• rendering a first representation of a current state of the vehicle on an exterior-facing visual display arranged on the vehicle;
• and
• autonomously navigating toward an intersection based on the sensor stream;
• and
• during a second time succeeding the first time, detecting a first state of the intersection based on the sensor stream;
• selecting a next navigation action for the vehicle based on the sensor stream;
• at a third time succeeding the second time, detecting a state change of the intersection from the first state to a second state based on the sensor stream;
• and
• in response to detecting the state change of the intersection:
• rendering a second representation of the next navigation action on the exterior-facing visual display;
• and
• autonomously executing the next navigation action to autonomously navigate through the intersection based on the sensor stream.

A method comprising, at a vehicle:

• recording a sensor stream via a sensor suite in the vehicle;
• at a first time:
• rendering a first representation of a current state of the vehicle on a rear-facing visual display arranged on the vehicle;
• autonomously navigating toward an intersection based on the sensor stream.
• selecting a next navigation action for navigating through the intersection;
• during a second period of time succeeding the first time:
• detecting possession, by the vehicle, of right of way to enter the intersection based on the sensor stream;
• in response to detecting possession, by the vehicle, of right of way to enter the intersection, rendering a second representation of the next navigation action on the rear-facing visual display;
• and
• during a third period of time succeeding the second period of time, autonomously executing the next navigation action to autonomously navigate through the intersection based on the sensor stream.