Patent attributes
Among other things, a vehicle is caused to drive autonomously through a road network toward a defined goal position at which a stopped activity is to occur. A set of acceptable stopping places is identified in the vicinity of the goal position. The identifying of the set includes: identifying a proximity region in the vicinity of the goal position, identifying a goal region within the proximity region, discretizing the goal region to identify acceptable stopping places given characteristics of the vehicle and of the stopped activity analyzing current information about potential stopping places in the goal region in the vicinity of the goal position to make a choice of a currently selected stopping place that is acceptable and feasible. Current information is analyzed about the potential stopping places, to make a choice of a currently selected stopping place that is acceptable and feasible the vehicle is caused to drive autonomously toward the currently selected stopping place. The activities are repeated until the vehicle stops at a currently selected stopping place.