Implementing manoeuvres in autonomous vehicles

A position target for a planned speed change maneuver is received. From a predetermined family of kinematic functions, a kinematic function for carrying out the planned speed change maneuver, is determined. The kinematic function is a first or higher order derivative of acceleration with respect to time, and is computed in a constrained optimization process as substantially optimizing a cost function defined for the planned speed change maneuver, subject to a set of hard constraints.