Determining arrangement information for a vehicle

1. A method for determining arrangement information for a vehicle, wherein the arrangement information comprises a position of the vehicle and an orientation of the vehicle with reference to a stationary coordinate system, wherein the method comprises:

detecting a local lane arrangement in surroundings of the vehicle with sensors of the vehicle, wherein the local lane arrangement indicates an arrangement of lanes in the surroundings of the vehicle with reference to the vehicle;

determining a first lane arrangement depending on the local lane arrangement, detected by the sensors, and previously determined arrangement information for the vehicle, wherein the first lane arrangement indicates an arrangement of lanes in the surroundings of the vehicle with reference to the stationary coordinate system, wherein a lane of the first lane arrangement comprises a point list representing the center of the lane, wherein each point on the point list corresponds to a position observed with the sensors of the vehicle;

determining a second lane arrangement depending on specified map material and a global position measurement or the previously determined arrangement information for the vehicle, wherein the second lane arrangement indicates an arrangement of lanes in the surroundings of the vehicle with reference to the stationary coordinate system, wherein a lane of the first lane arrangement comprises a point list representing the center of the lane, wherein each point on the point list corresponds to a respective point on the map material;

determining similarity information depending on a geometric similarity between the first lane arrangement and the second lane arrangement, wherein the similarity information is determined based on point-by-point comparison of points on the point list of the first lane information with corresponding points on the point list of the second lane information; and

updating the previously determined arrangement information for the vehicle depending on the similarity information.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method furthermore comprises updating a previously determined lane arrangement hypothesis depending on the similarity information, wherein the lane arrangement hypothesis indicates a hypothesis for an arrangement of lanes in the surroundings of the vehicle with reference to the stationary coordinate system.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the arrangement information of the vehicle comprises parameters of a multidimensional normal distribution for the position and orientation of the vehicle.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a lane of a lane arrangement comprises a point list representing the middle of the lane, wherein each point on the point list has parameters of a multidimensional normal distribution for a position with reference to the stationary coordinate system.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method furthermore comprises updating the previously determined arrangement information for the vehicle depending on odometry data of the vehicle.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method furthermore comprises:

detecting a stationary position of the vehicle, wherein the stationary position indicates the position of the vehicle with reference to the stationary coordinate system; and

updating the previously determined arrangement information for the vehicle depending on the detected stationary position of the vehicle.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method is performed repeatedly, wherein a repetition rate for the repeated performance of the method lies within a range of 25 to 400 repetitions per second.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein determining the similarity information comprises:

determining lane information for the first lane arrangement by means of the sensors of the vehicle, wherein the lane information comprises lane marking types and/or stop line positions and/or traffic sign positions; and

comparing the lane information for the first lane arrangement with map-material-based lane information for the second lane arrangement.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first lane arrangement indicates an arrangement of at least two lanes, and/or the second lane arrangement indicates an arrangement of at least two lanes, wherein determining the similarity information comprises determining multiple items of pair similarity information, wherein each of the multiple items of pair similarity information is determined depending on a geometric similarity of a respective pair of two lanes, wherein a respective pair of two lanes comprises one lane from the first lane arrangement and one lane from the second lane arrangement.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the updating of the previously determined arrangement information for the vehicle depending on the similarity information comprises:

for each item of pair similarity information of the multiple items of pair similarity information: determining respective weighted update information depending on the respective pair similarity information, wherein the weighted update information comprises arrangement information for the vehicle under the assumption that the lane of the respective pair relates to the same actual lane, and wherein the weight of the weighted update information indicates a probability that the lane of the respective pair relates to the same actual lane; and

updating the previously determined arrangement information for the vehicle depending on the weighted update information.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the arrangement information of the vehicle and the weighted items of update information each comprise parameters of a multidimensional normal distribution for the position and orientation of the vehicle;

wherein the updating of the previously determined arrangement information for the vehicle depending on the weighted update information comprises multiplying the normal distribution of the arrangement information with the normal distributions of the items of update information.

12. An arrangement determining device for determining arrangement information for a vehicle, wherein the arrangement information comprises a position of the vehicle and an orientation of the vehicle with reference to a stationary coordinate system, wherein the arrangement determining device comprises:

sensors for detecting a local lane arrangement in surroundings of the vehicle, wherein the local lane arrangement indicates an arrangement of lanes in the surroundings of the vehicle with reference to the vehicle; and

a processing device that is configured

to determine a first lane arrangement depending on the local lane arrangement, detected by the sensors, and previously-determined arrangement information for the vehicle, wherein the first lane arrangement indicates an arrangement of lanes in the surroundings of the vehicle with reference to the stationary coordinate system, wherein a lane of the first lane arrangement comprises a point list representing the center of the lane, wherein each point on the point list corresponds to a position observed with the sensors of the vehicle;

to determine a second lane arrangement depending on specified map material and a global position measurement or the previously determined arrangement information for the vehicle, wherein the second lane arrangement indicates an arrangement of lanes in the surroundings of the vehicle with reference to the stationary coordinate system, wherein a lane of the second lane arrangement comprises a point list representing the center of the lane, wherein each point on the point list corresponds to a respective point of the map material;

to determine similarity information depending on a geometric similarity between the first lane arrangement and the second lane arrangement, wherein the similarity information is determined based on point-by-point comparison of points on the point list of the first lane information with corresponding points on the point list of the second lane information; and

to update the previously determined arrangement information for the vehicle depending on the similarity information.

13. The arrangement determining device of claim 12 , wherein the arrangement determining device is designed to perform the method according to one of the claims 1 - 11 .

14. A vehicle comprising:

an arrangement determining device according to claim 12 ; and

a driver assistance system that provides an automatic driving function for the vehicle and is coupled to the arrangement determining device;

wherein the automatic driving function is performed by the arrangement determining device based on the updated arrangement information.

15. The vehicle according to claim 14 , wherein the arrangement determining device is configured to perform the method according to claim 2 ,

wherein the automatic driving function is performed by the arrangement determining device based on the updated lane arrangement hypothesis.

16. A method for determining arrangement information for a vehicle, wherein the arrangement information comprises a position of the vehicle and an orientation of the vehicle with reference to a stationary coordinate system, wherein the method comprises:

detecting a local lane arrangement in surroundings of the vehicle with sensors of the vehicle, wherein the local lane arrangement indicates an arrangement of lanes in the surroundings of the vehicle with reference to the vehicle;

determining a first lane arrangement depending on the local lane arrangement and previously determined arrangement information for the vehicle, wherein the first lane arrangement indicates an arrangement of lanes in the surroundings of the vehicle with reference to the stationary coordinate system, wherein a lane of the first lane arrangement comprises a point list representing the center of the lane, wherein each point on the point list corresponds to a position observed with the sensors of the vehicle;

determining a second lane arrangement depending on specified map material, wherein the second lane arrangement indicates an arrangement of lanes in the surroundings of the vehicle with reference to the stationary coordinate system, wherein a lane of the first lane arrangement comprises a point list representing the center of the lane, wherein each point on the point list corresponds to a respective point on the map material;

determining similarity information depending on a geometric similarity between the first lane arrangement and the second lane arrangement, wherein the similarity information is determined based on point-by-point comparison of points on the point list of the first lane information with corresponding points on the point list of the second lane information; and

updating the previously determined arrangement information for the vehicle depending on the similarity information; wherein

the first lane arrangement indicates an arrangement of at least two lanes, and/or the second lane arrangement indicates an arrangement of at least two lanes, wherein determining the similarity information comprises determining multiple items of pair similarity information, wherein each of the multiple items of pair similarity information is determined depending on a geometric similarity of a respective pair of two lanes, wherein a respective pair of two lanes comprises one lane from the first lane arrangement and one lane from the second lane arrangement; wherein

the updating of the previously determined arrangement information for the vehicle depending on the similarity information comprises:

for each item of pair similarity information of the multiple items of pair similarity information: determining respective weighted update information depending on the respective pair similarity information, wherein the weighted update information comprises arrangement information for the vehicle under the assumption that the lane of the respective pair relates to the same actual lane, and wherein the weight of the weighted update information indicates a probability that the lane of the respective pair relates to the same actual lane; and

updating the previously determined arrangement information for the vehicle depending on the weighted update information.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the arrangement information of the vehicle and the weighted items of update information each comprise parameters of a multidimensional normal distribution for the position and orientation of the vehicle;

wherein the updating of the previously determined arrangement information for the vehicle depending on the weighted update information comprises multiplying the normal distribution of the arrangement information with the normal distributions of the items of update information.