Vehicle trajectory modification for following

A vehicle comprising:

• a sensor disposed on the vehicle;
• a processor;
• and
• a computer-readable media storing instructions executable by the processor, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
• determining a drivable area for the vehicle;
• determining, based at least in part on the drivable area, a reference trajectory for the vehicle to follow;
• receiving sensor data from the sensor;
• determining, based at least in part on the sensor data, object parameters of an object in an environment through which the vehicle is traversing;
• modifying the drivable area, based at least in part on the sensor data and independent of whether the reference trajectory is valid in view of the object, to generate a modified drivable area that excludes a space that is either occupied by the object or that the object is predicted to occupy based on the object parameters;
• determining, based at least in part on the modified drivable area and the reference trajectory, whether to modify the reference trajectory;
• and
• controlling the vehicle based at least in part on whether to modify the reference trajectory.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instruction that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

• receiving sensor data from a sensor on a vehicle;
• determining a drivable area that represents a region in which the vehicle is permitted to traverse;
• determining a trajectory within the drivable area for the vehicle to follow;
• determining, based at least in part on the sensor data, an object parameter associated with an object;
• modifying the drivable area, based at least in part on the object parameter and independent of the trajectory, to generate a modified drivable area that excludes a space that is either occupied by the object or that the object is predicted to occupy based on the object parameter;
• determining, based at least in part on the modified drivable area and the trajectory, a cost;
• determining, based at least in part on the cost, whether to modify the trajectory;
• and
• controlling the vehicle based at least in part on the modified drivable area.