Method and system for adaptively controlling object spacing

An adaptive spacing predictive control system for controlling a vehicle to adaptively control spacing between the vehicle and a moving object in an operating environment of the vehicle, comprising:

• a processor system;
• a memory coupled to the processor system, the memory tangibly storing thereon executable instructions that, when executed by the processor system, cause the processor system to:
• determine a current state of the vehicle based on sensor data captured by sensors of the vehicle;
• determine multiple possible alternative future actions for the vehicle based on the current state of the vehicle;
• predict, based on the current vehicle state, for each possible alternative future action of the multiple possible alternative future actions, a first zone future safety value corresponding to a first safety zone of the vehicle, the first zone safety value indicating a safety level of the vehicle for the first safety zone;
• select, based on the predicted first zone future safety values for each of the possible alternative future actions, one of the multiple possible future alternative future actions as an action for the vehicle;
• and
• cause the vehicle to perform the selected action for the vehicle to control the spacing between the vehicle and the moving object.

A computer program product comprising a medium tangibly storing thereon executable instructions that, when executed by a processor system in a vehicle, cause the processor system to control a vehicle to adaptively control spacing between the vehicle and a moving object in an operating environment of the vehicle by:

• determining a current state of the vehicle based on sensor data captured by sensors of the vehicle;
• determining multiple possible alternative future actions for the vehicle based on the current state of the vehicle;
• predicting, based on the current vehicle state, for each possible alternative future action of the multiple possible alternative future actions, a first zone future safety value corresponding to a first safety zone of the vehicle, the first zone future safety value indicating a safety level of the vehicle for the first safety zone if the possible alternative future action is performed by the vehicle;
• selecting, based on the first zone future safety values for each of the possible alternative future actions of the multiple possible future alternative future actions, an action for the vehicle;
• and
• providing the selected vehicle action for the vehicle to a drive control system of the vehicle which causes the vehicle to perform the selected action for the vehicle to control the spacing between the vehicle and the moving object.