A technique is described for developing and using applications and skills with an autonomous vehicle. In an example embodiment, a development platform is provided that enables access to a developer console for developing software modules for use with an autonomous vehicle. Using the developer console, a developer user can specify instructions for causing an autonomous vehicle to perform one or more operations. For example, to control the behavior of an autonomous vehicle, the instructions can cause an executing computer system at the autonomous vehicle to generate calls to an application programming interface (API) associated with an autonomous navigation system of autonomous vehicle. Such calls to the API can be configured to adjust a parameter of a behavioral objective associated with a trajectory generation process performed by the autonomous navigation system that controls the behavior of the autonomous vehicle. The instructions specified by the developer can be packaged as a software module that can be deployed for use at autonomous vehicle.