×

Algorithm and infrastructure for robust and efficient vehicle localization

  • US 10,579,065 B2
  • Filed: 11/23/2016
  • Issued: 03/03/2020
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/23/2016
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
Patent Images

1. A computer-implemented method of determining an accurate location of an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV) with respect to a high-definition (HD) map representing a real-world environment surrounding the ADV and operating the ADV, the method comprising:

  • determining an approximate location of the ADV using a global positioning system (GPS location of the ADV);

    obtaining a section of the HD map having the GPS location of the ADV substantially at the center of the section of the HD map;

    determining a first set of a plurality of candidate cells of an ADV feature space of cells surrounding the ADV, the first set representing a coarse search space of the ADV feature space, each candidate cell in the coarse search space having a median intensity and a variance in elevation, the ADV feature space determined using one or more sensors of the ADV;

    for each candidate cell in the coarse search space, determining a similarity score between a feature space that surrounds the candidate cell (candidate cell feature space), and a feature space of the section of the HD map surrounding the GPS location of the ADV, using a similarity metric, wherein the similarity metric is based at least in part on the candidate cell median intensity and the candidate cell variance in elevation, wherein the similarity metric represents, for the candidate cell, a similarity of the candidate cell feature space to the HD map feature space surrounding the GPS location of the ADV;

    determining a location of the ADV with respect to the HD map feature space based at least in part on the candidate cell having the highest similarity score among the candidate cells of the coarse search space; and

    navigating the ADV based at least in part on the determined location of the ADV with respect to the HD map.

View all claims
  • 1 Assignment
Timeline View
Assignment View
    ×
    ×