AUTONOMOUS DRIVING CRASH PREVENTION

Autonomous vehicles must accommodate various road configurations such as straight roads, curved roads, controlled intersections, uncontrolled intersections, and many others. Autonomous driving systems must make decisions about the speed and distance of traffic and about obstacles including obstacles that obstruct the view of the autonomous vehicle's sensors. For example, at intersections, the autonomous driving system must identify vehicles in the path of the autonomous vehicle or potentially in the path based on a planned path, estimate the distance to those vehicles, and estimate the speeds of those vehicles. Then, based on those and the road configuration and environmental conditions, the autonomous driving system must decide whether it is safe to proceed along the planned path or not, and when it is safe to proceed.