According to the characteristics of autonomous land vehicle

a global path planning method based on improved glowworm swarm optimization(GSO)is proposed.Firstly

more than one path is generated with GSO which covers multiple local optima.Then two path switching algorithms are proposed

of which one aims at optimization and the other aims at rescue.When the cross point is passed through

the optimization switching algorithm revaluates the paths

switches to the optimum path

and ultimately attains optimal actual travel route.When the environment changes

the rescue switching algorithm switches to the appropriate path by heuristic search

which reuses the original search results

avoiding the secondary planning.Many simulation experiments and actual trial show that the proposed method is feasible and effective.