Prediction of intention of path deviance for vehicles

An apparatus to estimate a location of a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:

• a processor to couple to a memory and to implement,
• a data input to receive data indicating position and velocity of the vehicle at a plurality of time points during a time window, the position and velocity of the vehicle having been measured independently of one another;
• a path calculator to calculate a path of movement by the vehicle during the time window, using the received position and velocity data;
• a path assessor to determine whether the calculated path indicates a change in a direction of the movement of the vehicle during the time window;
• and
• a location estimator to estimate the location of the vehicle at a determined future time relative to the time window, using at least the received position and velocity data at end of the time window;
• wherein when the calculated path indicates a change in the direction of movement of the vehicle,
• the path assessor
• classifies the calculated path by determining a similarity of the calculated path to at least one vehicle path corresponding to a vehicle preparing to turn and at least one vehicle path corresponding to a vehicle not preparing to turn, and
• assigns a classification to the calculated path in accordance with a result of the similarity determination such that the calculated path is classified as that of a vehicle which path indicates a change in the direction as preparing to turn, or a vehicle which path indicates not a change in the direction as not preparing to turn;
• and
• the location estimator estimates the location of the vehicle at the determined future time using the classification of the calculated path in addition to the received position and velocity data at the end of the time window.