Methods and systems for reducing vehicle delay based on movement prediction

An autonomous vehicle comprising:

• a powertrain comprising a transmission and a brake;
• a sensor disposed on the autonomous vehicle configured to detect a surrounding environment;
• and
• a computing device in communication with the sensor, the computing device comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer readable storage, the processor configured to:
• receive, from the sensor, sensor data representing the surrounding environment;
• process the sensor data to generate a predicted time for a longitudinal path based on the surrounding environment;
• compute a torque value for the longitudinal path;
• engage a clutch of the transmission to provide the torque value at the predicted time;
• disengage the brake upon satisfaction of a constraint corresponding to the surrounding environment within the predicted time;
• and
• initiate a movement of the autonomous vehicle corresponding to the longitudinal path.

A method for reducing autonomous vehicle delay, the method comprising:

• receiving sensor data representing a surrounding environment of an autonomous vehicle;
• processing the sensor data to predict a change of movement status in the surrounding environment;
• computing a longitudinal path for the autonomous vehicle based on the change of movement status;
• and
• initiating a movement of the autonomous vehicle corresponding to the longitudinal path.