Method and system for the camera-based determining of the speed of a vehicle in traffic

A method for the camera-based determining of the speed of a vehicle in traffic, the method comprising the following method steps:

• capturing a first image at a first point in time using a first image sensor and capturing a second image at the first point in time using a second image sensor;
• capturing a third image at a second point in time using the first image sensor and capturing a fourth image at the second point in time using the second image sensor;
• identifying features in the individual images;
• matching the features in the images captured by the first image sensor against the features contained in the images captured by the second image sensor at the same point in time, whereby those features which are only contained in the images captured by the first image sensor or in the images captured by the second image sensor are discarded;
• comparing the corresponding features in the images captured by the first image sensor with the features in the images captured by the second image sensor with regard to their epipolar geometry, wherein those features for which the epipolar conditions are not fulfilled are discarded;
• matching the features in the images captured by the first image sensor, wherein those features which are not contained in both images captured by the first image sensor and those features that are not contained in both images captured by the second image sensor are discarded;
• determining features whose position has remained unchanged from the first point in time to the second point in time and removing those features whose position has remained unchanged;
• determining the spatial position of the features using a triangulation method;
• determining a speed vector for each feature;
• determining the speed for each feature from the speed vector determined for the corresponding feature;
• and
• determining an average speed of the vehicle by averaging the determined speeds for each feature.