If you search "Uber autonomous vehicle" you can see some videos of the display. From what I gather, basically gathers the signals into a human readable model. In general I wouldn't have recommended this driving style but it might have been too dark to see much anyway.

I don’t understand this, I’ve seen a few people comment in the same vein.

People can safely drive in total darkness with the aid of their amazing human eyes and high-beams.

If for some other reason visibility is low you slow down - not rely on glancing at a backlit display ruining your own night vision and taking your eyes off the road for seconds at a time.