Autonomous behavior control using policy triggering and execution

A system for operating an autonomous vehicle, comprising:

• an environmental sensor configured to obtain one or more parameters of external agents of the vehicle;
• and
• a processor configured to:
• obtain a route having a destination at the autonomous vehicle;
• build a Markov state model of the route that includes a plurality of states for the autonomous vehicle and the one or more parameters of the external agents;
• generate a plurality of driving policies for navigating the route, wherein each driving policy includes a progression through the plurality of states;
• select a policy for navigating the route from the plurality of driving policies using a Markov Decision Process;
• and
• execute the selected policy at the autonomous vehicle to navigate the vehicle along the route towards the destination.

An autonomous vehicle, comprising:

• an environmental sensor configured to obtain one or more parameters of external agents of the vehicle;
• and
• a processor configured to:
• obtain a route having a destination at the autonomous vehicle;
• build a Markov state model of the route that includes a plurality of states for the autonomous vehicle and the one or more parameters of the external agents;
• generate a plurality of driving policies for navigating the route, wherein each driving policy includes a progression through the plurality of states;
• select a policy for navigating the route from the plurality of driving policies using a Markov Decision Process;
• and
• execute the selected policy at the autonomous vehicle to navigate the vehicle along the route towards the destination.