Orientation-adjust actions for autonomous vehicle operational management

1. A method for use in traversing a vehicle transportation network, the method comprising:

traversing, by an autonomous vehicle, a vehicle transportation network, wherein traversing the vehicle transportation network includes:

operating a scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance, wherein the scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance includes an instance of a scenario-specific operational control evaluation model of a distinct vehicle operational scenario, and wherein operating the scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance includes identifying a policy for the scenario-specific operational control evaluation model;

receiving a candidate vehicle control action from the policy for the scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance, wherein:

in response to a determination that an uncertainty value for the distinct vehicle operational scenario exceeds a defined uncertainty threshold, the candidate vehicle control action is an orientation-adjust vehicle control action; and

traversing a portion of the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the candidate vehicle control action, wherein the portion of the vehicle transportation network includes the distinct vehicle operational scenario, and wherein traversing the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the candidate vehicle control action includes:

identifying a right-of-way boundary location in the vehicle transportation network; and

in response to a determination that a distance between the autonomous vehicle and the right-of-way boundary location is within a defined approach distance, controlling the autonomous vehicle to traverse the portion of the vehicle transportation network at a maximum orientation-adjust speed.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the autonomous vehicle to traverse the vehicle transportation network at the maximum orientation-adjust speed includes:

in response to a determination that the maximum orientation-adjust speed exceeds a current speed of the autonomous vehicle, controlling the autonomous vehicle to accelerate to the maximum orientation-adjust speed; and

in response to a determination that the current speed of the autonomous vehicle exceeds the maximum orientation-adjust speed, controlling the autonomous vehicle to decelerate to the maximum orientation-adjust speed.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein traversing the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the candidate vehicle control action includes in response to a determination that a distance between the autonomous vehicle and the right-of-way boundary location is within an expected distance-to-stationary, controlling the autonomous vehicle to traverse the vehicle transportation network by decelerating.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein traversing the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the candidate vehicle control action includes in response to a determination that a current location of the autonomous vehicle corresponds with the right-of-way boundary location, controlling the autonomous vehicle to traverse the vehicle transportation network by stopping.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein traversing the vehicle transportation network includes:

receiving a subsequent candidate vehicle control action from the policy for the scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance, wherein:

in response to a determination that the uncertainty value for the distinct vehicle operational scenario is within the defined uncertainty threshold, the subsequent candidate vehicle control action is a proceed vehicle control action or a stop vehicle control action; and

traversing a subsequent portion of the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the subsequent candidate vehicle control action, wherein the subsequent portion of the vehicle transportation network includes the distinct vehicle operational scenario.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determination that the uncertainty value for the distinct vehicle operational scenario exceeds the defined uncertainty threshold corresponds with an occluded area, and wherein traversing the portion of the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the candidate vehicle control action includes traversing the portion of the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the candidate vehicle control action such that the occluded area is reduced.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determination that the uncertainty value for the distinct vehicle operational scenario exceeds the defined uncertainty threshold is based on an uncertainty for an expected operation of an external object, and wherein traversing the portion of the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the candidate vehicle control action includes traversing the portion of the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the candidate vehicle control action such that the uncertainty for the expected operation of the external object is reduced.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determination that the uncertainty value for the distinct vehicle operational scenario exceeds the defined uncertainty threshold is based on an expected external uncertainty, and wherein traversing the portion of the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the candidate vehicle control action includes traversing the portion of the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the candidate vehicle control action such that the expected external uncertainty is reduced by controlling the autonomous vehicle to output a semiotic representation of an expected subsequent vehicle control action for the autonomous vehicle.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein controlling the autonomous vehicle to output the semiotic representation of the expected subsequent vehicle control action for the autonomous vehicle includes controlling at least one of a directional state of the autonomous vehicle or a kinetic state of the autonomous vehicle.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the distinct vehicle operational scenario is an intersection scenario, a pedestrian scenario, a merge scenario, a lane change scenario, or a lane-overlap scenario.

11. An autonomous vehicle comprising:

a processor configured to execute instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium to:

operate a scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance, wherein the scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance includes an instance of a scenario-specific operational control evaluation model of a distinct vehicle operational scenario, and wherein operating the scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance includes identifying a policy for the scenario-specific operational control evaluation model;

receive a candidate vehicle control action from the policy for the scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance, wherein:

in response to a determination that an uncertainty value for the distinct vehicle operational scenario exceeds a defined uncertainty threshold, the candidate vehicle control action is an orientation-adjust vehicle control action; and

traverse a portion of a vehicle transportation network in accordance with the candidate vehicle control action, wherein the portion of the vehicle transportation network includes the distinct vehicle operational scenario by:

identifying a right-of-way boundary location in the vehicle transportation network; and

in response to a determination that a distance between the autonomous vehicle and the right-of-way boundary location is within a defined approach distance, controlling the autonomous vehicle to traverse the portion of the vehicle transportation network at a maximum orientation-adjust speed.

12. The autonomous vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured to:

generate the determination that the uncertainty value for the distinct vehicle operational scenario exceeds the defined uncertainty threshold in response to information indicating at least one of an occluded area, an expected operation of an external object, or an expected external uncertainty; and

traverse the portion of the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the candidate vehicle control action by:

traversing the portion of the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the candidate vehicle control action such that the uncertainty for the expected operation of the external object is reduced;

traversing the portion of the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the candidate vehicle control action such that the expected external uncertainty is reduced by controlling the autonomous vehicle to output a semiotic representation of an expected subsequent vehicle control action for the autonomous vehicle; and

in response to the information indicating the occluded area, traversing the portion of the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the candidate vehicle control action such that the occluded area is reduced.

13. The autonomous vehicle of claim 11 , wherein controlling the autonomous vehicle to traverse the vehicle transportation network at the maximum orientation-adjust speed includes:

in response to a determination that the maximum orientation-adjust speed exceeds a current speed of the autonomous vehicle, controlling the autonomous vehicle to accelerate to the maximum orientation-adjust speed; and

in response to a determination that the current speed of the autonomous vehicle exceeds the maximum orientation-adjust speed, controlling the autonomous vehicle to decelerate to the maximum orientation-adjust speed.

14. The autonomous vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium to traverse the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the candidate vehicle control action by, in response to a determination that a distance between the autonomous vehicle and the right-of-way boundary location is within an expected distance-to-stationary, controlling the autonomous vehicle to traverse the vehicle transportation network by decelerating.

15. The autonomous vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium to traverse the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the candidate vehicle control action by, in response to a determination that a current location of the autonomous vehicle corresponds with the right-of-way boundary location, controlling the autonomous vehicle to traverse the vehicle transportation network by stopping.

16. A method for use in traversing a vehicle transportation network, the method comprising:

traversing, by an autonomous vehicle, a vehicle transportation network, wherein traversing the vehicle transportation network includes:

operating a scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance, wherein the scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance includes an instance of a scenario-specific operational control evaluation model of a distinct vehicle operational scenario, and wherein operating the scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance includes identifying a policy for the scenario-specific operational control evaluation model;

receiving a candidate vehicle control action from the policy for the scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance, wherein:

in response to a determination that an uncertainty value for the distinct vehicle operational scenario exceeds a defined uncertainty threshold, the candidate vehicle control action is an orientation-adjust vehicle control action; and

traversing a portion of the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the candidate vehicle control action, wherein the portion of the vehicle transportation network includes the distinct vehicle operational scenario, and wherein traversing the portion of the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the candidate vehicle control action includes:

in response to a determination that a distance between the autonomous vehicle and the right-of-way boundary location is within a defined approach distance, controlling the autonomous vehicle to traverse the portion of the vehicle transportation network at a maximum orientation-adjust speed;

in response to a determination that the distance between the autonomous vehicle and a right-of-way boundary location is within an expected distance-to-stationary, controlling the autonomous vehicle to traverse the vehicle transportation network by decelerating, and

in response to a determination that a current location of the autonomous vehicle corresponds with the right-of-way boundary location, controlling the autonomous vehicle to traverse the vehicle transportation network by stopping.