A distributed learning system of a vehicle includes: a control module configured to: control a plant of the vehicle using a policy; send signals to a learning module including information on an impact of the control on the plant; and selectively control the plant using exploratory control; and the learning module, where the learning module is separate from the control module and is configured to selectively update the policy based on (a) the signals from the control module, (b) state parameters resulting from the control of the plant using the policy, and (c) performance feedback determined based on the control of the plant using the policy and the selective control of the plant using exploratory control, where the control module is configured to receive the exploratory control from the learning module.