Localizing vehicles using retroreflective surfaces

A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

• receive a first set of data associated with a plurality of retroreflective features from a vehicle;
• retrieve a digital map comprising vectorized data associated with the plurality of retroreflective features and a location associated with the plurality of retroreflective features, the digital map previously generated based on monitoring a second set of data retrieved from a sensor of a second vehicle where the second set of data is associated with the plurality of retroreflective features near a road being driven by the second vehicle;
• generate a score for each retroreflective feature indicating a match between each retroreflective feature as indicated within the digital map and a location of each retroreflective feature as identified within the first set of data;
• and
• localize the vehicle.

A system comprising a processor configured to:

• receive a first set of data associated with a plurality of retroreflective features from a vehicle;
• retrieve a digital map comprising vectorized data associated with the plurality of retroreflective features and a location associated with the plurality of retroreflective features, the digital map previously generated based on monitoring a second set of data retrieved from a sensor of a second vehicle where the second set of data is associated with the plurality of retroreflective features near a road being driven by the second vehicle;
• generate a score for each retroreflective feature indicating a match between each retroreflective feature as indicated within the digital map and a location of each retroreflective feature as identified within the first set of data;
• and
• localize the vehicle.