Object Association for Autonomous Vehicles

A computer-implemented method of object association, the computer-implemented method comprising:

• obtaining sensor data comprising a plurality of representations of one or more objects in an environment over a plurality of time intervals by one or more sensors of a vehicle, the plurality of representations comprising an object detection of the one or more objects at a most recent time interval of the plurality of time intervals and an object track of the one or more objects at a plurality of time intervals preceding the most recent time interval;
• providing input data indicative of the plurality of representations of the one or more objects as an input to a machine-learned model;
• receiving an output of the machine-learned model in response to receipt of the input data, wherein the output is indicative of a relationship between a respective object detection in the most recent time interval and a respective object track in the plurality of time intervals preceding the most recent time interval;
• and
• associating the respective object detection with the respective object track in computer memory.

An autonomous vehicle control system, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• one or more tangible, non-transitory, computer readable media that store instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the autonomous vehicle control system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
• obtaining sensor data comprising a plurality of representations of one or more objects in an environment over a plurality of time intervals by one or more sensors of a vehicle, the plurality of representations comprising an object detection of the one or more objects at a most recent time interval of the plurality of time intervals and an object track of the one or more objects at a plurality of time intervals preceding the most recent time interval;
• providing input data indicative of the plurality of representations of the one or more objects as an input to a machine-learned model;
• receiving an output of the machine-learned model in response to receipt of the input data, wherein the output is indicative of a relationship between a respective object detection in the most recent time interval and a respective object track in the plurality of time intervals preceding the most recent time interval;
• and
• associating the respective object detection with the respective object track in computer memory.

An autonomous vehicle comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• one or more tangible, non-transitory, computer readable media that store instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the autonomous vehicle to perform operations, the operations comprising:
• obtaining sensor data comprising a plurality of representations of one or more objects in an environment over a plurality of time intervals by one or more sensors of the autonomous vehicle, the plurality of representations comprising an object detection of the one or more objects at a most recent time interval of the plurality of time intervals and an object track of the one or more objects at a plurality of time intervals preceding the most recent time interval;
• providing input data indicative of the plurality of representations of the one or more objects as an input to a machine-learned model;
• receiving an output of the machine-learned model in response to receipt of the input data, wherein the output is indicative of a relationship between a respective object detection in the most recent time interval and a respective object track in the plurality of time intervals preceding the most recent time interval;
• and
• associating the respective object detection with the respective object track in computer memory.