Localization using 2D maps which capture vertical structures in 3D point data

US10838065B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN · US

Inventors

• Edwin Olson · Ann Arbor, US
• Carl Kershaw · San Francisco, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jan 26, 2018
• Grant date: Nov 17, 2020
• Expiry date: Feb 15, 2039

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01S17/931
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

Autonomous vehicles require precise localization to support safe and reliable operation. Current systems aim to localize in 6DOF based on observations from a combination of cameras and 3D LiDAR, matching against dense, 3D prior maps. These maps are quite large and complex, presenting both computational and physical challenges in terms of matching, storage, and retrieval. Most of the environments where vehicles operate in contain frequent and distinct vertical structure sufficient for 2D localization, while state-of-the-art IMUs can be used to recover roll and pitch. This disclosure introduces a fast method for constructing 2D maps summarizing the vertical structure in the environment and demonstrate that it can be used to localize accurately in vehicular and other applications.