Method for Using Lateral Motion to Optimize Trajectories for Autonomous Vehicles

The present disclosure is directed generating candidate trajectories and selecting one of them to be implemented. In particular, a computing system can obtain an initial travel path for an autonomous vehicle. The computing system can obtain sensor data describing objects within an environment of the autonomous vehicle. The computing system can generate a plurality of trajectories for the autonomous vehicle based on the sensor data and the initial travel path. The computing system can determine whether the initial travel path, an offset profile, and a velocity profile meet flatness criteria. In response to determining that the initial travel path, the offset profile, and the velocity profile meet the flatness criteria, the computing system can combine the initial travel path, the offset profile, and the velocity profile into the respective trajectory. The computing system can determine a trajectory from the plurality of trajectories.