Method for transforming 2D bounding boxes of objects into 3D positions for autonomous driving vehicles (ADVs)

A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:

• perceiving an object in a perspective view of the ADV using an image capturing device mounted on the ADV;
• generating a 2D bounding box for the object based on an image of the object captured by the image capturing device;
• classifying the object to be one of a plurality of known objects based on the image of the object;
• determining an orientation and a 3D size of the object based on the classification;
• projecting onto the image a plurality of three-dimensional (3D) representations of the object having a similar orientation and size as the object, wherein the plurality of 3D representations represents the object with varying distances to the ADV;
• determining a distance from the ADV to the object based on a dimension of a selected one from the plurality of 3D representations that approximately matches the dimension of the 2D bounding box;
• and
• generating a trajectory in view of the determined distance from the ADV to the object to control the ADV to navigate the ADV around the object.

A data processing system, comprising:

• a plurality of processors;
• and
• a memory coupled to the a plurality of processors to store instructions, which when executed by the a plurality of processors, cause the a plurality of processors to perform operations, the operations including
• perceiving an object in a perspective view of the ADV using an image capturing device mounted on the ADV;
• generating a 2D bounding box for the object based on an image of the object captured by the image capturing device;
• classifying the object to be one of a plurality of known objects based on the image of the object;
• determining an orientation and a 3D size of the object based on the classification;
• projecting onto the image a plurality of three-dimensional (3D) representations of the object having a similar orientation and size as the object, wherein the plurality of 3D representations represents the object with varying distances to the ADV;
• determining a distance from the ADV to the object based on a dimension of a selected one of the plurality of 3D representations that approximately matches the dimension of the 2D bounding box;
• and
• generating a trajectory in view of the determined distance from the ADV to the object to control the ADV to navigate the ADV around the object.