A computer-implemented method for inter-vehicle communications amongst autonomous vehicles , the method comprising: transmitting , by a first autonomous vehicle a vehicle identifier, ID, and vehicle information of a first autonomous vehicle to a cloud server over a network , wherein the cloud server is communicatively coupled to a plurality of autonomous vehicles ; receiving , by the first autonomous vehicle a list of one or more vehicle identifiers, IDs, from the cloud server , the vehicle IDs identifying one or more autonomous vehicles that are within a predetermined geographic proximity of the first autonomous vehicle , wherein the cloud server maintains a neighboring vehicle data structure storing geographic neighboring information of the plurality of autonomous vehicles based on their respective vehicle information periodically received from the plurality of autonomous vehicles , and identifies the one or more autonomous vehicles using a nearest neighbor search algorithm, wherein the neighboring vehicle data structure comprises a k-dimensional, k-d, tree, and the k-d tree comprises a plurality of nodes in a hierarchical structure, each node corresponding to one of the plurality of autonomous vehicles managed by the cloud server , wherein the k-dimension includes latitude, longitude, and altitude, and traveling directions are integrated into tree nodes ; and communicating , by the first autonomous vehicle with a second autonomous vehicle that is selected from a first list of the one or more autonomous vehicles via a wireless local area network to exchange an operational status of the first autonomous vehicle with the second autonomous vehicle . transmitting , by a first autonomous vehicle a vehicle identifier, ID, and vehicle information of a first autonomous vehicle to a cloud server over a network , wherein the cloud server is communicatively coupled to a plurality of autonomous vehicles ; receiving , by the first autonomous vehicle a list of one or more vehicle identifiers, IDs, from the cloud server , the vehicle IDs identifying one or more autonomous vehicles that are within a predetermined geographic proximity of the first autonomous vehicle , wherein the cloud server maintains a neighboring vehicle data structure storing geographic neighboring information of the plurality of autonomous vehicles based on their respective vehicle information periodically received from the plurality of autonomous vehicles , and identifies the one or more autonomous vehicles using a nearest neighbor search algorithm, wherein the neighboring vehicle data structure comprises a k-dimensional, k-d, tree, and the k-d tree comprises a plurality of nodes in a hierarchical structure, each node corresponding to one of the plurality of autonomous vehicles managed by the cloud server , wherein the k-dimension includes latitude, longitude, and altitude, and traveling directions are integrated into tree nodes ; and communicating , by the first autonomous vehicle with a second autonomous vehicle that is selected from a first list of the one or more autonomous vehicles via a wireless local area network to exchange an operational status of the first autonomous vehicle with the second autonomous vehicle . <EOS>