Travel path estimation apparatus and program

A non-transitory recording medium storing a travel path estimation program that causes a computer to perform the functions of:

• an acquisition section for acquiring a captured image of a periphery of a vehicle;
• an extraction section for extracting, from the captured image acquired by the acquisition section, characteristic points indicating vehicle lanes;
• a setting section for, based on a distribution of the characteristic points extracted by the extraction section, setting system noise expressing variation of travel path parameters when estimating travel path parameters related to a position or an angle of the vehicle itself with respect to a travel path for travel by the vehicle itself and related to a shape or a size of the travel path;
• and
• an estimation section for estimating the travel path parameters by probability signal processing using a discrete time signal based on the characteristic points extracted by the extraction section, a previous estimation result of the travel path parameters, and the system noise set by the setting section.

A travel path estimation system, comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• a processor configured to:
• acquire a captured image of a periphery of a vehicle;
• extract, from the captured image characteristic points indicating vehicle lanes;
• set system noise expressing variation of travel path parameters, based on a distribution of the extracted characteristic points, when estimating travel path parameters related to a position or an angle of the vehicle with respect to a travel path for travel by the vehicle and related to a shape or a size of the travel path;
• and
• estimate the travel path parameters by probability signal processing using a discrete time signal based on the extracted characteristic points, a previous estimation result of the travel path parameters, and the set system noise.