System and method for validation of lidar-generated horizon estimation

A method of determining accuracy of a horizon determination made by a vehicle-mounted lidar system comprising:

• recording, with a vehicle-mounted global positioning system-assisted inertial measurement unit (GPS/IMU) system, vehicle position and vehicle orientation data at particular points in time as the vehicle traverses a route;
• generating a route topology based on the vehicle position and the vehicle orientation data;
• recording a first upper limit horizon estimation and a first lower limit horizon estimation by the lidar system at each of the particular points in time;
• determining a relative lidar system position and a relative lidar system orientation based on a relative location of the lidar system with respect to the GPS/IMU system;
• calculating a second upper limit horizon estimation and a second lower limit horizon estimation for the lidar system at each of the particular points in time based on the route topology and the relative lidar system position and relative lidar system orientation;
• and
• comparing for each of the particular points in time the first upper limit horizon estimation with the second upper limit horizon estimation and comparing the first lower limit horizon estimation with the second lower limit horizon estimation to generate horizon accuracy metrics.