Systems and methods for controlling longitudinal acceleration based on lateral objects

A system, comprising:

• a processor;
• a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising programming instructions that are configured to cause the processor to implement a method for controlling acceleration of a vehicle, wherein the programming instructions comprise instructions to:
• detect a lateral distance from a point on a trajectory of the vehicle to a first object the vehicle is expected to pass when following the trajectory, the first object being located off of and to a side of the trajectory and the point representing a future location of the vehicle while passing the first object;
• select whether acceleration limiting is to be performed by the vehicle based on the lateral distance;
• obtain a margin of the vehicle defined by a sequence of points;
• obtain an amount by which the acceleration of the vehicle is to be limited based on the trajectory and the margin of the vehicle, when a selection is made that acceleration limiting is to be performed by the vehicle;
• and
• cause the vehicle to perform operations for autonomous driving with limiting of acceleration by the obtained amount.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores instructions that is configured to, when executed by at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to perform operations comprising:

• detecting a lateral distance from a point on a trajectory of the vehicle to a first object the vehicle is expected to pass when following the trajectory, the first object being located off of and to a side of the trajectory and the point representing a future location of the vehicle while passing the first object;
• selecting whether acceleration limiting is to be performed by the vehicle based on the lateral distance;
• obtaining a margin of the vehicle defined by a sequence of points;
• obtaining an amount by which the acceleration of the vehicle is to be limited based on the trajectory and the margin of the vehicle, when a selection is made that acceleration limiting is to be performed by the vehicle;
• and
• causing the vehicle to perform operations for autonomous driving with limiting of acceleration by the obtained amount.