An automotive vehicle includes at least one actuator configured to control vehicle steering, shifting, acceleration, or braking, at least one sensor configured to provide signals indicative of road geometry in the vicinity of the vehicle, and a controller in communication with the sensor and the actuator. The controller is configured to selectively control the actuator in an autonomous driving mode based on signals from the sensor. The controller is configured to automatically determine a first time parameter based on a distance to a merge location between a current driving lane of the vehicle and a target lane adjacent the current driving lane in response to signals from the sensor, to automatically determine a second time parameter based on a calculated merge completion time, and to automatically discontinue autonomous control of the actuator based on a difference between the first time parameter and the second time parameter.