Vehicle localization

An apparatus arranged to perform a localization of itself within an environment, the apparatus comprising:

• a sensor configured to generate a sequence of images of an environment around the apparatus;
• processing circuitry in communication with the sensor, the processing circuitry configured to execute a first Visual Odometry (VO) pipeline and a second VO pipeline:
• the first VO pipeline arranged to:
• perform a first transformation on the sequence of images of the environment, to generate a first sequence of transformed images;
• compare, against a stored representation of the environment, one or more images from the first sequence of transformed images;
• determine, during the comparison, first corresponding features within the images of the first sequence and the stored representation;
• provide a first localization estimate for the apparatus according to a position of the one or more first corresponding features;
• and
• provide a first quality value for the first localization estimate;
• the second VO pipeline arranged to:
• perform a second transformation on the sequence of images of the environment, to generate a second sequence of transformed images, wherein the second transformation is different from the first transformation;
• compare, against the stored representation of the environment, one or more images from the second sequence of transformed images;
• determine, during the comparison, second corresponding features within the images of the second sequence and the stored representation;
• provide a second localization estimate for the apparatus according to a position of the one or more second corresponding features;
• and
• provide a second quality value for the second localization estimate;
• the processing circuitry further configured to:
• select either the first localization estimate or the second localization estimate based on a comparison of the first and the second quality values;
• and
• localize the apparatus according to the selected first or second localization estimate.

A non-transitory machine readable medium containing instructions, which when read by a computer, cause that computer to:

• obtain a sequence of images of an environment around an apparatus;
• execute a first Visual Odometry (VO) pipeline and a second VO pipeline;
• the first VO pipeline arranged to:
• perform a first transformation on the sequence of images of the environment, to generate a first sequence of transformed images;
• compare one or more images from the first sequence of transformed images against a stored representation of the environment;
• determine first corresponding features within the images of the first sequence and the stored representation;
• provide a first localization estimate for the apparatus according to a position of the one or more first corresponding features;
• and
• provide a first quality value for the first localization estimate;
• the second VO pipeline arranged to:
• perform a second transformation on the sequence of images of the environment, to generate a second sequence of transformed images, wherein the second transformation is different from the first transformation;
• compare, against the stored representation of the environment, one or more images from the second sequence of transformed images;
• determine second corresponding features within the images of the second sequence and the stored representation;
• provide a second localization estimate for the apparatus according to a position of the one or more second corresponding features;
• and
• provide a second quality value for the second localization estimate;
• select either the first localization estimate or the second localization estimate based on a comparison of the first and the second quality values;
• and
• localize the apparatus according to the selected first or second localization estimate.