System and method for behavior based control of an autonomous vehicle

A vehicle, comprising:

• a drive control for receiving manual inputs from an operator input device to operate the vehicle in a manual mode;
• actuators mated to the drive control, each actuator mated to the drive control by a mechanical linkage that disassociates and reassociates the actuator and drive control, each actuator being associated with a plurality of behaviors that each propose at least one action set;
• an arbiter for:
• (a) selecting, from amongst proposals provided by the behaviors, (i) the action set having highest priority from amongst the plurality of action sets, each action set characterized by a priority and comprising a plurality of alternative actions ranked according to a corresponding plurality of preferences, and (ii) an alternative action, from the selected action set, having highest corresponding preference, and
• (b) modifying the selected alternative action based on an environmental condition around the vehicle;
• and
• a controller in communication with the arbiter and the actuators for operating the actuators in accordance with the modified selected alternative action.