System and method for precision localization and mapping

A method for vehicular localization and mapping, comprising:

• at a camera mounted to a vehicle and oriented to define a field of view including a region forward of the vehicle during vehicle motion, wherein the vehicle is associated with a global system location, wherein the global system location is associated with a location error, recording a sequence of images of the region forward of the vehicle in response to the location error exceeding a threshold error value;
• identifying a landmark depicted in an image of the sequence of images with a landmark identification module of a computing system associated with the vehicle, the landmark having a landmark geographic location and a known parameter, wherein the known parameter characterizes a physical dimension of the landmark;
• identifying the landmark in each of the sequence of images;
• extracting a set of landmark parameters from the image with a feature extraction module of the computing system, wherein the set of landmark parameters comprises a landmark pose;
• extracting a corresponding landmark pose from each of the sequence of images;
• determining, at the computing system, a relative position between the vehicle and the landmark geographic location based on a comparison between the set of landmark parameters and the known parameter;
• determining a temporal pattern based on the corresponding landmark pose extracted from each of the sequence of images;
• determining a vehicle trajectory based on the temporal pattern, wherein the vehicle is controlled along the vehicle trajectory based on the location error, and wherein the vehicle is an autonomous vehicle;
• updating, at the computing system, the global system location based on the relative position;
• setting the location error to an error value below the threshold error value in response to updating the global system location;
• and
• incrementing the location error in proportion to an elapsed time subsequent to updating the global system location.