Camera blockage detection for autonomous driving systems

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, containing a set of instructions which, in response to execution by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method for detecting blockages in images, the method comprising:

• receiving a plurality of images captured by a camera installed on a vehicle;
• for an image selected from the plurality of images,
• dividing the image into a plurality of processing units (PUs),
• identifying a plurality of blocked PUs from the plurality of PUs based on a subset of prior images in the plurality of images that are captured prior to the image, and
• clustering the plurality of blocked PUs into one or more candidate blocked regions;
• generating a blockage region map based on the candidate blocked regions extracted from the plurality of images;
• and
• in response to a determination that a corresponding blockage score in the blockage region map is above a predetermined confidence score, transmitting a blockage alarm signal to the vehicle.

A system for detecting blockages in images, the system comprising:

• a camera installed on a vehicle for capturing a plurality of images;
• an alarm installed on the vehicle;
• and
• an autonomous driving system coupled with the camera and the alarm, wherein the autonomous driving system is configured to
• identify one or more candidate blocked regions in the plurality of images, wherein each of the candidate blocked regions contains image data caused by blockages in the camera's field-of-view,
• assign blockage scores to the one or more candidate blocked regions based on region-associations among the one or more candidate blocked regions' in the plurality of images, and
• in response to a determination that one of the blockage scores is above a predetermined blockage threshold, transmitting a blockage alarm signal to the alarm.