Top-View Lidar-Based Object Detection

1 . A computer-implemented method for detecting objects of interest, comprising:

receiving, by a computing system that comprises one or more computing devices, LIDAR data from one or more LIDAR systems configured to transmit ranging signals relative to an autonomous vehicle;

generating, by the computing system, a top-view representation of the LIDAR data that is discretized into a grid of multiple cells;

determining, by the computing system, one or more cell statistics characterizing the LIDAR data corresponding to each cell; and

determining, by the computing system, a classification for each cell based at least in part on the one or more cell statistics.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each cell in the grid of multiple cells represents a column in three-dimensional space.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the classification for each cell comprises an indication of whether that cell includes a detected object of interest from a predetermined set of objects of interest and a probability score associated with each classification.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

generating, by the computing system, one or more object segments based at least in part on the classification for each cell; and

providing, by the computing system, the one or more object segments to an object classification and tracking application.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein generating, by the computing system, one or more object segments based at least in part on the classification for each cell comprises:

clustering, by the computing system, cells having one or more predetermined classifications into one or more groups of cells, each group corresponding to an instance of a detected object of interest; and

generating, by the computing system, a bounding shape for each instance of a detected object of interest, each bounding shape positioned relative to a corresponding cluster of cells having one or more predetermined classifications, each bounding shape corresponding to one of the one or more object segments.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein generating, by the computing system, a bounding shape positioned relative to a corresponding cluster of cells comprises:

generating, by the computing system, a plurality of proposed bounding shapes positioned relative to each corresponding cluster of cells;

determining, by the computing system, a score for each proposed bounding shape based at least in part on a number of cells having one or more predetermined classifications within each proposed bounding shape; and

determining, by the computing system, the bounding shape for each corresponding cluster of cells based at least in part on the scores for each proposed bounding shape and a non-maximum suppression analysis of the proposed bounding shapes.

7 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more cell statistics characterizing the LIDAR data corresponding to each cell comprises one or more parameters associated with a distribution, a power, or intensity of LIDAR data points projected onto each cell.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, by the computing system, a feature extraction vector for each cell by aggregating the one or more cell statistics of surrounding cells at one or more different scales; and

wherein the classification for each cell is further based at least in part on the feature extraction vector for each cell.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining, by the computing system, a classification for each cell based at least in part on the one or more cell statistics comprises:

accessing, by the computing system, a classification model that classifies cells of LIDAR data according to a predetermined set of objects of interest;

providing, by the computing system, the one or more cell statistics as input to the classification model; and

receiving, by the computing system, as an output of the classification model, an indication of whether that cell includes a detected object of interest.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the classification model includes a decision tree classifier and wherein the output of the classification model provides a classification of each detected object of interest as a pedestrian, a vehicle, or a bicycle and a probability score associated with each classification.

11 . An object detection system, comprising:

a LIDAR system configured to transmit ranging signals relative to an autonomous vehicle and to generate LIDAR data;

one or more processors;

a classification model, wherein the classification model has been trained to classify cells of LIDAR data; and

at least one tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium that stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:

determining one or more cell statistics characterizing the LIDAR data corresponding to each cell;

providing the one or more cell statistics as input to the classification model; and

receiving, as output of the classification model, a classification for each cell.

12 . The object detection system of claim 11 , wherein the classification model includes a decision tree classifier and wherein the operations further comprise receiving, as output of the classification model, a classification of each detected object of interest as a pedestrian, a vehicle, or a bicycle and a probability score associated with each classification.

13 . The object detection system of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise determining a feature extraction vector for each cell by aggregating the one or more cell statistics of surrounding cells at one or more different scales; and wherein the feature extraction vector is provided as input to the classification model.

14 . The object detection system of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise:

generating one or more proposed bounding shapes based at least in part on the indication of whether each cell includes a detected object of interest;

filtering the one or more proposed bounding shapes to determine a bounding shape corresponding to each instance of a detected object of interest; and

providing the one or more bounding shapes to an object classification and tracking application.

15 . The object detection system of claim 14 , wherein the classification model has been further trained to generate proposed bounding shapes for selected cells, and wherein generating one or more proposed bounding shapes comprises receiving, as output of the classification model, the one or more proposed bounding shapes.

16 . The object detection system of claim 14 , wherein generating one or more proposed bounding shapes comprises:

clustering cells having one or more predetermined classifications into one or more groups of cells, each group corresponding to an instance of a detected object of interest; and

generating a plurality of proposed bounding shapes positioned relative to each corresponding cluster of cells.

17 . An autonomous vehicle, comprising:

a sensor system comprising at least one LIDAR system configured to transmit ranging signals relative to the autonomous vehicle and to generate LIDAR data; and

a vehicle computing system comprising:

one or more processors; and

at least one tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium that stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:

receiving LIDAR data from the sensor system;

generating a top-view representation of the LIDAR data that is discretized into a grid of multiple cells, each cell representing a column in three-dimensional space;

determining one or more cell statistics characterizing the LIDAR data corresponding to each cell;

determining a feature extraction vector for each cell by aggregating the one or more cell statistics of surrounding cells at one or more different scales; and

determining a classification for each cell based at least in part on the feature extraction vector for each cell.

18 . The autonomous vehicle of claim 17 , wherein the one or more cell statistics characterizing the LIDAR data comprise one or more parameters associated with a distribution of LIDAR data points projected onto each cell or one or more parameters associated with a power or intensity of LIDAR data points projected onto each cell.

19 . The autonomous vehicle of claim 18 , wherein the operations further comprise:

clustering cells having one or more predetermined classifications into one or more groups of cells, each group corresponding to an instance of a detected object of interest;

generating a bounding shape for each instance of a detected object of interest, each bounding shape positioned relative to a corresponding cluster of cells having one or more predetermined classifications; and

providing the bounding shape for each instance of a detected object of interest to an object classification and tracking application.

20 . The autonomous vehicle of claim 19 , wherein the operations further comprise controlling motion of the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the bounding shapes for each instance of a detected object of interest provided to the object classification and tracking application.