Microphone arrays to optimize the acoustic perception of autonomous vehicles

A method comprising:

• receiving, from a microphone array, one or more first sound signals from one or more first sound sources;
• receiving, from a microphone array, one or more second sound signals from one or more second sound sources;
• amplify the one or more first sound signals;
• disregarding the one or more second sound signals, wherein the one or more second sound signals comprise interference noise signals;
• determining that the one or more first sound signals indicate that a vehicle is within a threshold distance from an autonomous vehicle and traveling in a direction toward the autonomous vehicle;
• and
• instructing the autonomous vehicle to perform a minimal risk maneuver operation in response to determining that the one or more first sound signals indicate that the vehicle is within the threshold distance from the autonomous vehicle and traveling in the direction toward the autonomous vehicle.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

• receive, from a microphone array, one or more first sound signals from one or more first sound sources;
• receive, from a microphone array, one or more second sound signals from one or more second sound sources;
• amplify the one or more first sound signals;
• disregard the one or more second sound signals, wherein the one or more second sound signals comprise interference noise signals;
• determine that the one or more first sound signals indicate that a vehicle is within a threshold distance from an autonomous vehicle and traveling in a direction toward the autonomous vehicle;
• and
• instruct the autonomous vehicle to perform a minimal risk maneuver operation in response to determining that the one or more first sound signals indicate that the vehicle is within the threshold distance from the autonomous vehicle and traveling in the direction toward the autonomous vehicle.