TIME GAPS FOR AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

Aspects of the disclosure provide for a method of controlling an autonomous vehicle in an autonomous driving mode. For instance, a predicted future trajectory for an object detected in a driving environment of the autonomous vehicle may be received. A routing intent for a planned trajectory for the autonomous vehicle may be received. The predicted future trajectory and the routing intent intersect with one another may be determined. When the predicted future trajectory and the routing intent are determined to intersect with one another, a time gap may be applied to a predicted future state of the object defined in the predicted future trajectory. A planned trajectory may be determined for the autonomous vehicle based on the applied time gap. The autonomous vehicle may be controlled in the autonomous driving mode based on the planned trajectory.