Maneuver-based interaction system for an autonomous vehicle

A method performed by an autonomous vehicle comprising an engine and a plurality of sensor systems that generate a plurality of sensor signals, the plurality of sensor signals indicative of a first vehicle and a second vehicle in a vicinity of the autonomous vehicle, the method comprising:

• determining a first maneuver and a second maneuver that are to be executed by the first vehicle based upon the plurality of sensor signals, wherein a predicted path of the first vehicle comprises at least the first maneuver and the second maneuver;
• determining a third maneuver that is to be executed by the second vehicle based upon the plurality of sensor signals;
• generating an awareness graph based upon the plurality of sensor signals, the awareness graph comprising nodes connected by directed edges, wherein the nodes include a first node assigned to the first maneuver that is to be executed by the first vehicle, a second node assigned to the second maneuver that is to be executed by the first vehicle, a third node assigned to the third maneuver that is to be executed by the second vehicle, a first directed edge that extends from the first node to the second node, and a second directed edge that extends from the third node to the second node, wherein the first directed edge indicates a dependency between execution of the second maneuver by the first vehicle and execution of the first maneuver of the first vehicle, and wherein the second directed edge indicates a dependency between execution of the second maneuver by the first vehicle and execution of the third maneuver by the second vehicle;
• responsive to determining a fourth maneuver that is to be executed by the autonomous vehicle, adding a fourth node and a third directed edge to the awareness graph, wherein the fourth node is assigned to the fourth maneuver that is to be executed by the autonomous vehicle, wherein the third directed edge extends from the fourth node to the second node indicating a dependency between execution of the fourth maneuver by the autonomous vehicle and execution of the second maneuver by the first vehicle;
• generating a subgraph of the awareness graph by selecting a subset of nodes in the nodes and a subset of directed edges in the directed edges, wherein the subset of directed edges connect the subset of nodes, wherein the subgraph includes the second node, the fourth node, and the third directed edge, and wherein the subgraph lacks the first node, the third node, the first directed edge, and the second directed edge;
• determining an ordering in which the second maneuver and the fourth maneuver are to occur based upon the subgraph;
• and
• controlling the engine such that the autonomous vehicle executes the fourth maneuver in accordance with the ordering.

An autonomous vehicle comprising:

• a plurality of sensor systems that generate a plurality of sensor signals, the plurality of sensor signals indicative of a first vehicle and a second vehicle in a vicinity of the autonomous vehicle;
• one or more processing units;
• and
• a computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processing units, cause the one or more processing units to perform acts comprising:
• determining a first maneuver and a second maneuver that are to be executed by the first vehicle based upon the plurality of sensor signals;
• determining a third maneuver that is to be executed by the second vehicle based upon the plurality of sensor signals;
• generating an awareness graph based upon the plurality of sensor signals, the awareness graph comprising nodes connected by directed edges, wherein the nodes include a first node assigned to the first maneuver, a second node assigned to the second maneuver, and a third node assigned to the third maneuver, wherein a first directed edge extends from the first node to the second node indicating a dependency between execution of the first maneuver by the first vehicle and execution of the second maneuver by the first vehicle, and wherein a second directed edge extends from third node to the second node indicating a dependency between execution of the third maneuver by the second vehicle and execution of the second maneuver by the first vehicle;
• and
• responsive to determining a fourth maneuver that is to be executed by the autonomous vehicle, adding a fourth node and a third directed edge to the awareness graph, wherein the fourth node is assigned to the fourth maneuver, and wherein the third directed edge extends from the fourth node to the first node;
• generating a subgraph of the awareness graph by selecting a subset of the nodes and a subset of the directed edges, wherein the subset of the directed edges connect the subset of the nodes, wherein the subgraph includes the first node, the fourth node, and the third directed edge, and wherein the subgraph lacks at least the second node, the third node, the first directed edge, and the second directed edge;
• and
• determining an ordering in which the first maneuver and the fourth maneuver are predicted to occur based upon the subgraph.