Road boundary detection based on radar and visual information

A non-transitory computer readable medium for detecting a road-boundary of a road based on radar information and visual information, the non-transitory computer readable medium stores instructions for:

• estimating, based on the visual information obtained by a visual sensor, and locations of road-boundary points up to a first distance from the visual sensor of a vehicle;
• wherein the visual information also comprises road-boundary points beyond to the first distance;
• wherein a distance ambiguity of visual based location determination of road-boundary points with the first distance range does not exceed an ambiguity threshold;
• wherein a distance ambiguity of visual based location determination of road-boundary points outside the first distance exceeds the ambiguity threshold;
• wherein a distance ambiguity of visual based location determination of a road-boundary point is an uncertainty associated with a determining of a location of the road-boundary point;
• estimating, based at least on (i) the radar information, and (ii) angular-constrains regarding angular relationships between adjacent road-boundary points, wherein the angular constraints define a maximum allowed angular deviation between adjacent road-boundary points, the estimating uses the angular constraints to iteratively search for successive road-boundary segments within search regions defined by the angular constraints, to determine locations of road-boundary points outside the first distance range;
• wherein the angular constraints are based on physical limitations regarding road boundaries;
• determining the shape and position of the road-boundary based on the locations of the road-boundary points within the first range distance.

A system that comprises a processor that is configured to:

• estimate, based on the visual information obtained by a visual sensor of a vehicle, locations of road-boundary points up to a first distance from the visual sensor;
• wherein a distance ambiguity of visual based location determination of road-boundary points with the first distance range does not exceed a ambiguity threshold;
• wherein a distance ambiguity of visual based location determination of road-boundary points outside the first distance exceeds a ambiguity threshold;
• wherein a distance ambiguity of visual based location determination of a road-boundary point is an uncertainty associated with a determining of a location of the road-boundary point;
• dynamically determining the ambiguity threshold thereby dynamically determining the first distance;
• estimate, based at least on (i) the radar information, and (ii) angular-constrains regarding angular relationships between adjacent road-boundary points, wherein the angular constraints define a maximum allowed angular deviation between adjacent road-boundary points, the estimating uses the angular constraints to iteratively search for successive road-boundary segments within search regions defined by the angular constraints, to determine locations of road-boundary points outside the first distance range;
• wherein the angular constraints are based on physical limitations regarding road boundaries;
• determine the shape and position of the road-boundary of a road based on the locations of the road-boundary points within the first range distance;
• and
• dynamically determine the ambiguity threshold thereby dynamically determining the first distance.