Systems and methods for navigating a vehicle using coast control

A method for navigating a host vehicle, the method comprising:

• receiving a plurality of images acquired by a camera onboard the host vehicle;
• identifying a representation of a target vehicle in at least one of the plurality of images;
• at a first time,
• determining a first separation distance between the host vehicle and the target vehicle;
• and
• in response to determining that if the first separation distance is less than a comfort distance threshold, causing a reduction in a throttle level associated with a throttle system of the host vehicle without activating a braking system associated with the host vehicle;
• and
• at a second time after the first time,
• determining a second separation distance between the host vehicle and the target vehicle;
• and
• in response to determining that the second separation distance is greater than but trending toward a safe distance threshold, which is less than the comfort distance threshold, causing a reduction in the throttle level associated with the throttle system of the host vehicle and activation of the braking system associated with the host vehicle.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions that when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to perform navigation of a host vehicle, the operations comprising:

• receiving a plurality of images acquired by a camera onboard the host vehicle;
• identifying a representation of a target vehicle in at least one of the plurality of images;
• at a first time,
• determining a first separation distance between the host vehicle and the target vehicle;
• in response to determining that if the first separation distance is less than a comfort distance threshold, causing a reduction in a throttle level associated with a throttle system of the host vehicle without activating a braking system associated with the host vehicle;
• and
• at a second time after the first time,
• determining a second separation distance between the host vehicle and the target vehicle;
• and
• in response to determining that the second separation distance is greater than but trending toward a safe distance threshold, which is less than the comfort distance threshold, causing a reduction in the throttle level associated with the throttle system of the host vehicle and activation of the braking system associated with the host vehicle.