System for accommodating a pedestrian during autonomous vehicle operation

A collision avoidance system (12) for a vehicle includes an electronic brake system (16) capable of applying wheel brakes to decelerate the vehicle (10), a steering system (14) capable of changing a steering angle for the vehicle, and a controller. The controller instructions for performing a pedestrian avoidance maneuver including at least one of steering the vehicle to the maximum available separation distance and braking the vehicle to the maximum safe speed while the vehicle is passing the pedestrian.