Hierarchical path decision system for planning a path for an autonomous driving vehicle

A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

• determining, during a first planning cycle, a first lane boundary of a driving environment perceived by an ADV using a first lane boundary determination scheme designated as a current lane boundary determination scheme;
• planning a first trajectory based on the first lane boundary to drive the ADV navigating through the driving environment;
• evaluating whether the first trajectory satisfies a set of safety rules to avoid a collision with an object detected in the driving environment;
• and
• in response to determining that the first trajectory fails to satisfy the set of safety rules,
• determining a second lane boundary of the driving environment using a second lane boundary determination scheme, and
• planning a second trajectory based on the second lane boundary to drive the ADV.

A data processing system, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor to store instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations including
• determining, during a first planning cycle, a first lane boundary of a driving environment perceived by an ADV using a first lane boundary determination scheme designated as a current lane boundary determination scheme,
• planning a first trajectory based on the first lane boundary to drive the ADV navigating through the driving environment,
• evaluating whether the first trajectory satisfies a set of safety rules to avoid a collision with an object detected in the driving environment, and
• in response to determining that the first trajectory fails to satisfy the set of safety rules,
• determining a second lane boundary of the driving environment using a second lane boundary determination scheme, and
• planning a second trajectory based on the second lane boundary to drive the ADV.