AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT WITH VISUAL SALIENCY PERCEPTION CONTROL

Autonomous vehicle operational management with visual saliency perception control may include operating a perception unit and an autonomous vehicle operational management controller. Operating the perception unit may include generating external object information based on image data received from image capture units of the vehicle and saliency information received from the autonomous vehicle operational management controller. Operating the autonomous vehicle operational management controller may include identifying a distinct vehicle operational scenario based on the external object information, instantiating a scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance, receiving a candidate vehicle control action from a policy for the scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance, and controlling the autonomous vehicle to traverse a portion of the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the candidate vehicle control action, wherein the portion of the vehicle transportation network includes the distinct vehicle operational scenario.