  Path planning is a fundamental and extensively explored problem in robotic
control. We present a novel economic perspective on path planning.
Specifically, we investigate strategic interactions among path planning agents
using a game theoretic path planning framework. Our focus is on economic
tension between two important objectives: efficiency in the agents' achieving
their goals, and safety in navigating towards these. We begin by developing a
novel mathematical formulation for path planning that trades off these
objectives, when behavior of other agents is fixed. We then use this
formulation for approximating Nash equilibria in path planning games, as well
as to develop a multi-agent cooperative path planning formulation. Through
several case studies, we show that in a path planning game, safety is often
significantly compromised compared to a cooperative solution.
