Autonomous Vehicle Operational Management

A method for use in traversing a vehicle transportation network, the method comprising:

• traversing, by an autonomous vehicle, a vehicle transportation network, wherein traversing the vehicle transportation network includes:
• generating an autonomous vehicle operational control environment for operating scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instances, wherein each scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance is an instance of a respective scenario-specific operational control evaluation module, wherein each scenario-specific operational control evaluation module models a respective distinct vehicle operational scenario, and wherein each scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance generates a respective candidate vehicle control action responsive to the respective corresponding distinct vehicle operational scenario;
• operating a first scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance;
• receiving a first candidate vehicle control action from the first scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance;
• and
• traversing a portion of the vehicle transportation network based on the first candidate vehicle control action.

An autonomous vehicle comprising:

• a processor configured to execute instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium to:
• operate a scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance;
• receive a candidate vehicle control action from the scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance;
• and
• traverse a portion of the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the candidate vehicle control action.