System, method, and computer program product for trajectory scoring during an autonomous driving operation implemented with constraint independent margins to actors in the roadway

A system for maneuvering an autonomous vehicle (AV) traversing a roadway, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• a memory that stores one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
• receive forecast information associated with one or more predicted trajectories of an actor in the roadway;
• regenerate a distance table for a relevant trajectory of an action, using an original distance table which was previously generated for processing constraints, the relevant trajectory being based on a forecast for the one or more predicted trajectories of the actor with a trajectory of the AV;
• generate a plurality of margins for the AV to evaluate, the plurality of margins being based on a plurality of margin types for providing information about risks and effects on passenger comfort associated with a future proximity of the AV to the actor;
• generate continuous scores for each candidate trajectory from among a plurality of candidate trajectories, wherein each candidate trajectory that is also within a margin of the actor generated for the relevant trajectory;
• and
• issue a command to control the AV based on the continuous scores, to maneuver with respect to a plurality of constraints in the roadway, wherein:
• the continuous scores for each candidate trajectory, are based on one or more of:
• a penalty configured by transforming a margin value at a time interval into a penalty;
• a discount factor to account for increasing uncertainty about interactions that will be performed further in future, wherein a subsequent time interval is offset from a start of a planning cycle;
• an actor-type factor, discounting parameters per actor type, including at least one of a vehicle, a crosswalk-following pedestrian, other pedestrian, cyclist, or other object, to apply based on interaction classifications;
• or
• a social acceptability factor that classifies a decision taken by a candidate trajectory with respect to the margins to a plurality of actors simultaneously.

A computer program product for maneuvering an autonomous vehicle (AV) traversing a route on a roadway, comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium including one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

• receive forecast information associated with one or more predicted trajectories of an actor in a roadway;
• regenerate a distance table for a relevant trajectory of an action, using an original distance table which was previously generated for processing constraints, the relevant trajectory being based on a forecast for one or more predicted trajectories of the actor with a trajectory of the AV;
• generate a plurality of margins for the AV to evaluate, the margins based on a plurality of margin types for providing information about risks and effects on passenger comfort associated with a future proximity of the AV to the actor;
• generate continuous scores for each candidate trajectory from among a plurality of trajectories, wherein each candidate trajectory is within a margin of the actor generated for the relevant trajectory;
• and
• issue a command to control the AV based on the continuous scores, to maneuver with respect to a plurality of constraints in the roadway, wherein:
• the continuous scores for each candidate trajectory is generated based on one or more of:
• a penalty configured by transforming a margin value at a time interval into the penalty;
• a discount factor to account for increasing uncertainty about interactions that will be performed further in future, wherein a subsequent time interval is offset from a start of a planning cycle;
• an actor-type factor, discounting parameters per actor type, including at least one of a vehicle, a crosswalk-following pedestrian, other pedestrian, cyclist, or other object, to apply based on interaction classifications;
• or
• a social acceptability factor that classifies a decision taken by a candidate trajectory with respect to the margins to a plurality of actors simultaneously.