HIERARCHICAL PATH DECISION SYSTEM FOR PLANNING A PATH FOR AN AUTONOMOUS DRIVING VEHICLE

According to one embodiment, during a first planning cycle, a first lane boundary of a driving environment perceived by an ADV is determined using a first lane boundary determination scheme (e.g., current lane boundary), which has been designated as a current lane boundary determination scheme. A first trajectory is planned based on the first lane boundary to drive the ADV to navigate through the driving environment. The first trajectory is evaluated against a predetermined set of safety rules (e.g., whether it will collide or get too close to an object) to avoid a collision with an object detected in the driving environment. In response to determining that the first trajectory fails to satisfy the safety rules, a second lane determination boundary of the driving environment is determined using a second lane boundary determination scheme and a second trajectory is planned based on the second lane boundary to drive the ADV.