Vehicle control based on pathway paving status and location telemetry

A method of controlling operation of a vehicle with a controller having a processor and tangible, non-transitory memory on which instructions are recorded, and a command unit accessible to the controller, the method comprising:

• generating a trajectory plan based in part on a set of planning parameters via execution of a vehicle planning module by the controller, the vehicle being capable of an automated driving mode;
• generating a respective paving status of a respective pathway based on aggregated vehicle trajectories of a plurality of vehicles traversing the respective pathway, via the command unit, including:
• extracting respective coordinates and respective trajectories of the plurality of vehicles over a predefined time period;
• and
• determining respective lateral distances between the plurality of vehicles and a centerline in the respective pathway;
• designating the respective pathway as an unpaved pathway when one or more predefined conditions based on the respective lateral distances are met, via the command unit, the unpaved pathway being defined by an absence of centerline markings;
• and
• retrieving the respective paving status when the vehicle is traversing the unpaved pathway, via the controller, and controlling operation of the vehicle based in part on the respective paving status.

A vehicle comprising:

• a controller having a processor and tangible, non-transitory memory on which instructions are recorded, the vehicle being capable of an automated driving mode;
• a vehicle planning module executable by the controller to generate a trajectory plan constrained by a set of planning parameters for the vehicle;
• wherein the controller is adapted to retrieve a respective paving status when the vehicle is traversing a respective pathway, the respective paving status being generated by a command unit using aggregated vehicle trajectories of a plurality of vehicles traversing the respective pathway;
• wherein the command unit is adapted to designate the respective pathway as an unpaved pathway when one or more predefined conditions are met, the one or more predefined conditions being based on respective lateral distances between the plurality of vehicles and a centerline in the respective pathway, the unpaved pathway being defined by an absence of centerline markings;
• wherein the controller is adapted to retrieve the respective paving status and control operation of the vehicle based in part on the respective paving status when the vehicle is traversing the unpaved pathway;
• and
• wherein controlling operation of the vehicle includes transmitting a takeover request to a user of the vehicle to switch from the automated driving mode to a manual driving mode when the vehicle is traversing the unpaved pathway.