Hierarchical vehicle action prediction

A vehicle, comprising:

• a plurality of sensors;
• a vehicle control system;
• one or more processors;
• and
• memory storing one or more programs configured for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:
• obtaining a hierarchy of interconnected vehicle actions including a plurality of predefined vehicle actions that are organized to define a plurality of vehicle action sequences, the vehicle including a first vehicle;
• obtaining one or more images of a road with a second vehicle thereon;
• predicting a sequence of vehicle actions of the second vehicle through the hierarchy of interconnected vehicle actions using the one or more images;
• and
• controlling the first vehicle to at least partially autonomously drive based on the predicted sequence of vehicle actions of the second vehicle;
• wherein the hierarchy of interconnected vehicle actions includes a plurality of action levels having a first action level, and the first action level is defined according to a stage of a trip and corresponds to at least three predefined vehicle actions of:
• “start a trip,” “move in the trip,” and “complete a trip,” each of the plurality of vehicle action sequences having a respective total number of action levels.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by one or more processors of a first vehicle, the vehicle further including a plurality of sensors and a vehicle control system, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:

• obtaining a hierarchy of interconnected vehicle actions including a plurality of predefined vehicle actions that are organized to define a plurality of vehicle action sequences;
• obtaining one or more images of a road with a second vehicle thereon;
• predicting a sequence of vehicle actions of the second vehicle through the hierarchy of interconnected vehicle actions using the one or more images;
• and
• controlling the first vehicle to at least partially autonomously drive based on the predicted sequence of vehicle actions of the second vehicle;
• wherein the hierarchy of interconnected vehicle actions includes a plurality of action levels having a first action level, and the first action level is defined according to a stage of a trip and corresponds to at least three predefined vehicle actions of:
• “start a trip,” “move in the trip,” and “complete a trip,” each of the plurality of vehicle action sequences having a respective total number of action levels.