Autonomous safe stop feature for a vehicle

A system for autonomously bringing a vehicle to a safe stop at the request of a vehicle occupant in the event of an emergency situation, the system comprising:

• an actuation mechanism disposed in an occupant compartment of the vehicle, wherein the actuation mechanism is selectively actuatable by the vehicle occupant in the event of the emergency situation;
• a safe stop selection module operable for identifying a plurality of safe stop location candidates for the vehicle on an ongoing basis as the vehicle operates;
• a safe stop execution module operable for receiving an actuation signal generated by the actuation mechanism when the actuation mechanism is selectively actuated by the vehicle occupant, selecting a safe stop location for the vehicle from the plurality of safe stop location candidates for the vehicle responsive to receiving the actuation signal, and generating a corresponding vehicle control signal;
• and
• one or more vehicle control systems operable for receiving the vehicle control signal generated by the safe stop execution module and causing the vehicle to come to a stop at the selected safe stop location in the event of the emergency situation.