Method for generating trajectories for autonomous driving vehicles (ADVS)

A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:

• in response to detecting an obstacle based on a driving environment surrounding an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV), projecting the obstacle onto a station-time (ST) graph, wherein the ST graph indicates a location of the obstacle relative to a location of the ADV at different points in time;
• determining a first set of end points based on a boundary of the obstacle within the ST graph, wherein each of the end points in the first set represents a possible end condition of a trajectory;
• generating a first set of trajectory candidates between a starting point representing a current location of the ADV and the end points of the first set based on the ST graph indicating the location of the obstacle relative to the location of the ADV at different points in time;
• selecting one of the trajectory candidates in the first set using a predetermined trajectory selection algorithm to control the ADV in view of the obstacle at different points in time;
• and
• generating a second set of trajectory candidates between a current speed of the ADV and a target speed of the ADV based on a velocity-time (VT) graph, wherein the trajectory is selected based on the first set and the second set of trajectory candidates.

A data processing system, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• a memory coupled to the one or more processors to store instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations including
• in response to detecting an obstacle based on a driving environment surrounding an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV), projecting the obstacle onto a station-time (ST) graph, wherein the ST graph indicates a location of the obstacle relative to a location of the ADV at different points in time;
• determining a first set of end points based on a boundary of the obstacle within the ST graph, wherein each of the end points in the first set represents a possible end condition of a trajectory;
• generating a first set of trajectory candidates between a starting point representing a current location of the ADV and the end points of the first set based on the ST graph indicating the location of the obstacle relative to the location of the ADV at different points in time;
• selecting one of the trajectory candidates in the first set using a predetermined trajectory selection algorithm to control the ADV in view of the obstacle at different points in time;
• and
• generating a second set of trajectory candidates between a current speed of the ADV and a target speed of the ADV based on a velocity-time (VT) graph, wherein the trajectory is selected based on the first set and the second set of trajectory candidates.