COMMUNICATIONS PROTOCOLS BETWEEN PLANNING AND CONTROL OF AUTONOMOUS DRIVING VEHICLE

Based on sensor data obtained from a variety of sensors, a driving environment surrounding an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV) is perceived, including perceiving and identifying one or more obstacles. A trajectory is planned based on the perception data according to a set of rules to drive the ADV navigating through the driving environment. Trajectory data representing the trajectory is generated, where the trajectory data includes information indicating target or expected vehicle states at different points in time along the trajectory. The trajectory data is then transmitted in a sequence or a stream of one or more controller area network (CAN) messages to an electronic control unit (ECU) of the ADV over a CAN bus. The ECU is configured to generate and issue one or more control commands (e.g., throttle, brake, steering commands) based on the trajectory data to drive the ADV according to the trajectory.