Controlling vehicle lateral lane positioning

A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon executable instructions that, upon execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform functions comprising:

• identifying one or more objects on or proximate to a road on which a vehicle is travelling based on a trajectory;
• for each object of the one or more objects:
• estimating, based on one or more characteristics of the vehicle and one or more respective characteristics of a respective object, a respective interval of time during which the vehicle will be laterally adjacent to the respective object;
• based on the one or more characteristics of the vehicle, estimating one or more respective longitudinal positions of the vehicle on the road during the respective interval of time;
• and
• determining, based on the one or more respective characteristics of the respective object, a respective lateral distance for the vehicle to maintain between the vehicle and the respective object during the respective interval of time at the one or more respective longitudinal positions of the vehicle;
• assigning, based on the one or more respective characteristics of the respective object, a respective weight to the respective lateral distance determined for the respective object;
• determining a modified trajectory for the vehicle based on determined respective lateral distances relating to the vehicle and the one or more objects and based on respective weights assigned to the respective lateral distances, wherein the respective weights are indicative of respective degrees of influence of the respective lateral distances on determining the modified trajectory;
• and
• providing instructions to control the vehicle based on the modified trajectory.

A control system comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• a memory having stored thereon executable instructions that, upon execution by the at least one processor, cause the control system to perform functions comprising:
• identifying one or more objects on or proximate to a road on which a vehicle is travelling based on a trajectory;
• for each object of the one or more objects:
• estimating, based on one or more characteristics of the vehicle and one or more respective characteristics of a respective object, a respective interval of time during which the vehicle will be laterally adjacent to the respective object;
• based on the one or more characteristics of the vehicle, estimating one or more respective longitudinal positions of the vehicle on the road during the respective interval of time;
• and
• determining, based on the one or more respective characteristics of the respective object, a respective lateral distance for the vehicle to maintain between the vehicle and the respective object during the respective interval of time at the one or more respective longitudinal positions of the vehicle;
• determining a modified trajectory for the vehicle based on determined respective lateral distances relating to the vehicle and the one or more objects, wherein determining the modified trajectory comprises:
• taking the respective lateral distance into account as a hard constraint indicating strict adherence to maintaining at least the respective lateral distance between the vehicle and the respective object, or
• taking the respective lateral distance into account as a soft constraint that can be violated, based on the one or more respective characteristics of the object;
• and
• providing instructions to control the vehicle based on the modified trajectory.