A system for operating an autonomous vehicle includes a passenger-detector and a controller-circuit. The passenger-detector is operable to determine a passenger-count of passengers present in a host-vehicle. The controller-circuit is in communication with the passenger-detector and vehicle-controls of the host-vehicle. The controller-circuit is configured to operate the host-vehicle in an autonomous-mode and in accordance with a parameter. The parameter is set to an empty-value when passenger-count is equal to zero, and the parameter is set to an occupied-value different from the empty-value when the passenger count is greater than zero.