Patent Document ID: 7613553
Application ID: 10911765
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for autonomously controlling a vehicle comprising: establishing decision variables for maneuvering the vehicle; establishing behavior functions associated with a behavior of the vehicle including at least two of safest path, shortest path, quickest path, boldest path, and steadiest path as a function of at least one of the established decision variables, each behavior function giving a score indicating the desirability of engaging in the associated behavior wherein said established behavior functions are piecewise defined functions, each behavior function being dependent on at least one of the established decision variables, said behavior function being based on an underlying expression, each behavior function having a plurality of pieces, each piece relatable to an interior function having a piece maximum value, each behavior function having only one piece for each combination of decision variable values; establishing weights of the established behavior functions to give weighted behavior functions; solving a summation of the weighted behavior functions while the vehicle is operating to determine the values of the decision variables giving the highest summation; and guiding the vehicle in accordance with the determined decision variable values.