System, method, and computer program product for topological planning in autonomous driving using bounds representations

An autonomous vehicle, comprising:

• one or more sensors;
• and
• a computing system comprising one or more processors,
• wherein the computing system is programmed and/or configured to:
• receive map data and sensor data associated with a plurality of constraints in a geographic area of the autonomous vehicle;
• expand a topological tree by adding a plurality of nodes to represent a plurality of actions associated with the plurality of constraints, by:
• generating a bound based on a constraint of the plurality of constraints, each constraint of the plurality of constraints specifying a semantic action for traversing an object in a roadway in the geographic area, and the bound identifying limits of a spatial area with respect to an action for navigating the autonomous vehicle relative to the constraint;
• storing bound data, including a bound identifier associated with the bound in a central bound storage of a central database management system of the computing system;
• and
• linking the bound and one or more additional bounds sharing a common constraint in the plurality of nodes of the topological tree, to the central bound storage based on the bound identifier, wherein the bound is initially linked as an active bound, or alternatively, as an inactive bound after determining it is not a most restrictive bound at any sample index;
• and
• control the autonomous vehicle based on the topological tree, to navigate the plurality of constraints.

A computer program product for topological planning with bounds representation, comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium including one or more instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the one or more processors to:

• receive map data and sensor data associated with a plurality of constraints in a geographic area;
• expand a topological tree by adding a plurality of nodes to represent a plurality of actions associated with the plurality of constraints, by:
• generating a bound based on a constraint of the plurality of constraints, each constraint of the plurality of constraints specifying a semantic action for traversing an object in a roadway in the geographic area, and the bound identifying limits of a spatial area with respect to an action for navigating an autonomous vehicle relative to the constraint;
• storing bound data, including a bound identifier associated with the bound in a central bound storage of a central database management system of the computing system;
• and
• linking the bound and one or more additional bounds sharing a common constraint in the plurality of nodes of the topological tree, to the central bound storage based on the bound identifier, wherein the bound is initially linked as an active bound, or alternatively, as an inactive bound after determining it is not a most restrictive bound at any sample index;
• and
• generate instructions based on the topological tree, to navigate the plurality of constraints.