Sense-Plan-Act

Overview
"The autonomous vehicle (AV) technology employs the Sense-Plan-Act design, fundamental to many robotic systems. For a perfectly autonomous car system, the sensors such as radar, light detection and ranging systems (or LIDAR - 'light detection and ranging'), camera or GPS detect the environment and location of the vehicle. The software algorithms then interpret and process the sensor data, identify obstacles in the surrounding, categorize driving situations, plan the trajectories so as to exert the full control, for example, brake, steer, change lanes, throttle or provide warnings when conditions require the driver to retake control."