System and method for risk-aware behavioral policy selection by an autonomous agent

A method for controlling a vehicle, comprising:

• during a first time period:
• sampling a first set of measurements of a set of environmental objects;
• and
• based on the first set of measurements, determining a set of risks associated with the set of environmental objects;
• and
• during a second time period:
• based on the set of risks, determining a plurality of actions;
• determining a first combination of actions from the plurality of actions;
• determining a second combination of actions from the plurality of actions, wherein presence of at least one action differs between the first combination and the second combination;
• determining a first set of vehicle control policies according to the first combination of actions;
• determining a second set of vehicle control policies according to the second combination of actions;
• sampling a second set of measurements of the set of environmental objects;
• based on the second set of measurements:
• performing a set of first forward simulations of the set of environmental objects according to the first set of vehicle control policies;
• and
• performing a set of second forward simulations of the set of environmental objects according to the second set of vehicle control policies;
• based on a comparison of the set of first forward simulations and the set of second forward simulations, selecting the first set of vehicle control policies;
• and
• controlling the vehicle according to the first set of vehicle control policies.