Longitudinal velocity planning for lane change maneuvers

A method of controlling a vehicle, comprising:

• detecting a lane change feature during operation of a vehicle, the lane change feature including at least one of a lane addition feature and a lane split feature;
• based on detection of the lane change feature, acquiring, by a planning module, a trajectory for the vehicle to perform a lane change maneuver at the lane change feature within a time window, the time window selected based on a current velocity of the vehicle;
• calculating a longitudinal velocity profile prescribing a sequence of longitudinal velocities selected so that when the vehicle follows the acquired trajectory, the lane change maneuver is performed in a smooth manner within the time window;
• and
• controlling movement of the vehicle according to the acquired trajectory and executing the lane change maneuver according to the sequence of longitudinal velocities.

A vehicle system comprising:

• a memory having computer readable instructions;
• and
• a processing device for executing the computer readable instructions, the computer readable instructions controlling the processing device to perform:
• detecting a lane change feature during operation of a vehicle, the lane change feature including at least one of a lane addition feature and a lane split feature;
• based on detection of the lane change feature, acquiring, by a planning module, a trajectory for the vehicle to perform a lane change maneuver at the lane change feature within a time window, the time window selected based on a current velocity of the vehicle;
• calculating a longitudinal velocity profile prescribing a sequence of longitudinal velocities selected so that when the vehicle follows the acquired trajectory, the lane change maneuver is performed in a smooth manner within the time window;
• and
• controlling movement of the vehicle according to the acquired trajectory and executing the lane change maneuver according to the sequence of longitudinal velocities.