Neural networks for vehicle trajectory planning

A computer-implemented method for planning a trajectory of a vehicle, the method comprising:

• for each time step in a series of time steps:
• obtaining a first neural network input that characterizes a set of waypoints that each represent a previous location of the vehicle or a location in a planned trajectory for the vehicle;
• obtaining a second neural network input that characterizes (i) environmental data that represents a current state of an environment of the vehicle and (ii) navigation data that represents a planned navigation route for the vehicle;
• providing the first neural network input and the second neural network input to a trajectory planning neural network and, in response, obtaining a set of output scores from the trajectory planning neural network, each output score corresponding to a respective location of a set of possible locations in a vicinity of the vehicle and indicating a likelihood that the respective location is an optimal location for a next waypoint in the planned trajectory for the vehicle to follow the planned navigation route;
• and
• selecting, based on the set of output scores, one of the possible locations in the vicinity of the vehicle as a waypoint for the planned trajectory of the vehicle at the time step.

One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by data processing apparatus, cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

• for each time step in a series of time steps:
• obtaining a first neural network input that characterizes a set of waypoints that each represent a previous location of the vehicle or a location in a planned trajectory for the vehicle;
• obtaining a second neural network input that characterizes at least one of (i) environmental data that represents a current state of an environment of the vehicle or (ii) navigation data that represents a planned navigation route for the vehicle;
• providing the first neural network input and the second neural network input to a trajectory planning neural network and, in response, obtaining a set of output scores from the trajectory planning neural network, each output score corresponding to a respective location of a set of possible locations in a vicinity of the vehicle and indicating a likelihood that the respective location is an optimal location for a next waypoint in the planned trajectory for the vehicle to follow the planned navigation route;
• and
• selecting, based on the set of output scores, one of the possible locations in the vicinity of the vehicle as a waypoint for the planned trajectory of the vehicle at the time step.