Method and apparatus for longitudinal motion control of vehicle

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for the longitudinal motion control of a vehicle. The autonomous control of a subject vehicle including a longitudinal motion control system includes determining the states of parameters associated with a trajectory for the subject vehicle and parameters associated with a control reference determined for the subject vehicle. A range control routine is executed to determine a first parameter associated with a range control command based upon the states of the plurality of parameters, and a speed control routine is executed to determine a second parameter associated with a speed control command based upon the states of the plurality of parameters. An arbitration routine is executed to evaluate the range control command and the speed control command, and the operation of the subject vehicle is controlled to achieve a desired longitudinal state, wherein the desired longitudinal state is associated with a minimum of the range control command and the speed con