Prediction of pedestrian road crossing with vehicle sensor

A method of controlling operation of a vehicle in real-time, the vehicle having one or more sensors and a command unit with a processor and tangible, non-transitory memory, the method comprising:

• obtaining respective data of a scene, via the one or more sensors, and including a radar unit in the one or more sensors;
• determining an orientation angle of a pedestrian in the scene based in part on the respective data, the orientation angle being based on a heading of the pedestrian relative to a direction of a road;
• determining a Doppler frequency of the pedestrian and a distance of the pedestrian from a border of the road based in part on the respective data;
• and
• designating a status of the pedestrian as either crossing or not crossing based on the distance, the orientation angle and the Doppler frequency of the pedestrian.

A system of controlling operation of a vehicle, the system comprising:

• one or more sensors operatively connected to the vehicle and configured to obtain respective data, the one or more sensors including a radar unit, a camera and a lidar unit;
• a command unit adapted to receive the respective data, the command unit including a processor and tangible, non-transitory memory on which instructions are recorded;
• wherein the command unit is configured to determine an orientation angle of a pedestrian based in part on the respective data, the orientation angle being between a heading of the pedestrian and a normal vector perpendicular to a direction of a road;
• wherein the command unit is configured to determine a Doppler frequency of the pedestrian and a distance of the pedestrian from a border of the road based in part on the respective data;
• and
• wherein the command unit is configured to determine a status of the pedestrian in real-time as either crossing or not crossing, the status being crossing when the distance is less than a threshold distance, the orientation angle is less than a threshold angle and the Doppler frequency of the pedestrian is above a threshold frequency.