System and method for correcting in real-time an estimated position of a road object

A computer for a vehicle system that corrects in real-time a camera-based estimated position of a road object and facilitates a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), with the vehicle system having a camera and at least one input device, the computer comprising:

• at least one processor electronically communicating with the camera and receiving an image input signal from the camera, with the image input signal associated with image sensor data collected by the camera and the image sensor data being associated with the road object, and the at least one processor electronically communicating with the at least one input device and receiving a vehicle input signal from the at least one input device, with the vehicle input signal associated with vehicle sensor data collected by the camera, and the vehicle sensor data being associated with a current vehicle position, a current vehicle speed, and a current vehicle heading;
• and
• a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions such that the at least one processor is programmed to:
• receive the image input signal from the camera and the vehicle input signal from the at least one input device;
• match the image sensor data and the vehicle sensor data to one another based on a common time of collection by the associated camera and the associated at least one input device;
• determine an error model based on the image sensor data and the vehicle sensor data that are matched to one another;
• determine a predicted position of the road object based on the error model, the current vehicle position, the current vehicle speed, and the current vehicle heading;
• determine a current camera-based position of the road object based on the image sensor data;
• determine a deviation of the current camera-based position from the predicted position;
• and
• update the error model based on the deviation by removing a plurality of outlier intersections and determining a mean to reduce an error in the current camera-based position, such that the GNSS is capable of correcting an error in an absolute position of the road object.

A method for operating a computer of a vehicle system that corrects in real-time a camera-based estimated position of a road object and facilitates a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), the computer having at least one processor and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium (CRM) storing instructions, the method comprising:

• receiving, using the at least one processor, an image input signal from a camera, with the image input signal including image sensor data that is in turn associated with the road object;
• receiving, using the at least one processor, a vehicle input signal from at least one input device, with the vehicle input signal including vehicle sensor data that is in turn associated with a current vehicle position, a current vehicle speed, and a current vehicle heading;
• matching, using the at least one processor, the image sensor data and the vehicle sensor data to one another based on a common time of collection by the associated camera and the associated at least one input device;
• determining, using the at least one processor, an error model based on the image sensor data and the vehicle sensor data that are matched to one another;
• determining, using the at least one processor, a predicted position of the road object based on the error model, the current vehicle position, the current vehicle speed, and the current vehicle heading;
• determining, using the at least one processor, a current camera-based position of the road object based on the image sensor data;
• determining, using the at least one processor, a deviation of the current camera-based position from the predicted position;
• and
• updating, using the at least one processor, the error model based on the deviation by removing a plurality of outlier intersections and determining a mean, such that the GNSS is capable of correcting an error in an absolute position of the road object.