Autonomous driving decisions at intersections using hierarchical options markov decision process

A system in an autonomous vehicle (AV) for executing a maneuver at an intersection, the system comprising an intersection maneuver module that comprises one or more processors configured by programming instructions encoded in non-transient computer readable media, the intersection maneuver module configured to:

• determine, from vehicle sensor data and road geometry data, a plurality of range measurements, each range measurement determined from a unique ray extending from a starting point on the AV to an ending point that is terminated by an obstacle in the path of that ray or a pre-determined maximum distance;
• determine, from vehicle sensor data, obstacle velocity data, wherein the obstacle velocity data comprises a velocity of an obstacle determined to be at the ending point of the rays;
• determine vehicle state data wherein the vehicle state data includes a velocity of the AV, a distance to a stop line, a distance to a midpoint of an intersection, and a distance to a goal;
• determine, based on the plurality of range measurements, the obstacle velocity data and the vehicle state data, a set of discrete behavior actions and a unique trajectory control action associated with each discrete behavior action;
• choose a discrete behavior action from the set of discrete behavior actions and the associated unique trajectory control action to perform;
• and
• communicate a message to vehicle controls conveying the chosen unique trajectory control action associated with the discrete behavior action.

An autonomous vehicle (AV), comprising:

• one or more sensing devices configured to generate vehicle sensor data;
• and
• an intersection maneuver module configured to:
• determine, from vehicle sensor data and road geometry data, a plurality of range measurements, each range measurement determined from a unique ray extending from a starting point on the AV to an ending point that is terminated by an obstacle in the path of that ray or a pre-determined maximum distance;
• determine, from vehicle sensor data, obstacle velocity data, wherein the obstacle velocity data comprises a velocity of an obstacle determined to be at the ending point of the rays;
• determine vehicle state data wherein the vehicle state data includes a velocity of the AV, a distance to a stop line, a distance to a midpoint of an intersection, and a distance to a goal;
• determine, based on the plurality of range measurements, the obstacle velocity data and the vehicle state data, a set of discrete behavior actions and a unique trajectory control action associated with each discrete behavior action;
• choose a discrete behavior action from the set of discrete behavior actions and the associated unique trajectory control action to perform;
• and
• communicate a message to vehicle controls conveying the chosen unique trajectory control action associated with the discrete behavior action.