3D occlusion reasoning for accident avoidance

A method for use in traversing a vehicle transportation network, the method comprising:

• identifying a first trajectory of a first world object in the vehicle transportation network;
• identifying a visibility grid of the first world object;
• identifying, using the visibility grid, a second world object that is invisible to the first world object;
• and
• in response to determining that the first world object is predicted to collide with the second world object, alerting at least one of the first world object or the second world object.

An apparatus for use in traversing a vehicle transportation network by a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:

• a non-transitory computer readable medium;
• and
• a processor configured to execute instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium to:
• identify an occlusion in the vehicle transportation network, wherein the vehicle is on a first side of the occlusion;
• determine a visibility grid on a second side of the occlusion, wherein the second side is different from the first side;
• and
• in response to determining, based on the visibility grid, that an external object exists within the second side, alter a driving behavior of the vehicle.