Lidar-based detection of traffic signs for navigation of autonomous vehicles

One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions that in response to being executed by one or more processors, cause a computer system to perform operations, the operations comprising:

• receiving a point cloud representing a region, the point cloud captured by a LIDAR sensor mounted on a vehicle;
• identifying a cluster of points in the point cloud having a higher intensity than points outside the cluster of points;
• determining a bounding box around the cluster of points;
• identifying a traffic sign within the bounding box;
• projecting the bounding box to coordinates of an image of the region captured by a camera;
• employing a deep learning model to classify a traffic sign type of the traffic sign in a portion of the image within the projected bounding box;
• and
• storing information regarding the traffic sign and the traffic sign type in a high definition (HD) map of the region.

A computer system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• one or more non-transitory computer readable media storing instructions that in response to being executed by the one or more processors, cause the computer system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
• receiving a point cloud representing a region, the point cloud captured by a LIDAR sensor mounted on a vehicle;
• identifying a cluster of points in the point cloud having a higher intensity than points outside the cluster of points;
• determining a bounding box around the cluster of points;
• identifying a traffic sign within the bounding box;
• projecting the bounding box to coordinates of an image of the region captured by a camera;
• employing a deep learning model to classify a traffic sign type of the traffic sign in a portion of the image within the projected bounding box;
• and
• storing information regarding the traffic sign and the traffic sign type in a high definition (HD) map of the region.