Mobile body, location estimation device, and computer program

A vehicle which travels from a first position through a second position to a third position, the vehicle comprising:

• an external sensor to scan an environment so as to periodically output scan data;
• a storage to store an environmental map;
• and
• a location estimation device configured to read the environmental map from the storage, and to match the scan data against the environmental map by using an iterative closest point algorithm to estimate a location and an attitude of the vehicle at the third position;
• wherein
• the location estimation device determines predicted values of a location and an attitude of the vehicle at the third position in accordance with a history of estimated locations and estimated attitudes of the vehicle obtained by the location estimation device while the vehicle travels from the first position to the second position, the predicted values being used as initial values of the iterative closest point algorithm;
• and
• the location estimation device determines a rate of change in estimated locations and estimated attitudes of the vehicle in the second position in accordance with the history of estimated locations and estimated attitudes of the vehicle obtained by the location estimation device while the vehicle travels from the first position to the second position, and uses the rate of change to determine the predicted values of the location and the attitude of the vehicle in the third position.