IP Library › Granted Patent US 11,189,049
Granted Patent B1
US 11,189,049 · App. 17/072,334 · Granted Nov 30, 2021

Vehicle neural network perception and localization

Inventors: Punarjay Chakravarty (Campbell, CA); Shubham Shrivastava (Sunnyvale, CA)
Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
G06T7/73G06K9/00201G06K9/00791G06T2207/10012G06T2207/10028G06T2207/20081G06T2207/20084G06T2207/30252
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,189,049
App. No.
17/072,334
Granted
Nov 30, 2021
Kind
B1
Abstract

A computer, including a processor and a memory, the memory including instructions to be executed by the processor to determine a plurality of topological nodes wherein each topological node includes a location in real-world coordinates and a three-dimensional point cloud image of the environment at the location of the topological node and process an image acquired by a sensor included in a vehicle using a variational auto-encoder neural network trained to output a semantic point cloud image, wherein the semantic point cloud image includes regions labeled by region type and region distance relative to the vehicle. The instructions include further instructions to determine a topological node closest to the vehicle and a six degree-of-freedom pose for the vehicle relative to the topological node closest to the vehicle based on the semantic point cloud data, determine a real-world six degree-of-freedom pose for the vehicle by combining the six degree-of-freedom for the vehicle relative to the topological node and the location in real-world coordinates of the topological node closest to the vehicle and determine a location and size of a three-dimensional object in the semantic point cloud image based on three-dimensional background subtraction using the three-dimensional point cloud image included in the topological node closest to the vehicle. The instructions include further instructions to improve the three-dimensional point cloud image included in the topological node based on the semantic point cloud image and the real-world six degree-of-freedom pose for the vehicle.

Claims (30)

1. A computer, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, the memory including instructions executable by the processor to:

input an image acquired by a sensor in a vehicle to a variational auto-encoder neural network that outputs a semantic point cloud image that includes regions labeled by region type and region distance relative to the vehicle;

from a plurality of topological nodes, determine a topological node closest to the vehicle, and a six degree-of-freedom pose for the vehicle relative to the topological node closest to the vehicle, based on the semantic point cloud image, wherein each topological node includes a location in real-world coordinates and a three-dimensional point cloud image of an environment including the location of the topological node;

determine a real-world six degree-of-freedom pose for the vehicle by combining the six degree-of-freedom pose for the vehicle relative to the topological node closest to the vehicle and the location in real-world coordinates of the topological node closest to the vehicle; and

determine a location and size of a three-dimensional object in the semantic point cloud image based on three-dimensional background subtraction using the three-dimensional point cloud image included in the topological node closest to the vehicle.

2. The computer of claim 1 , the instructions including further instructions to determine the real-world six degree-of-freedom pose for the vehicle based on a single monocular image acquired by the sensor in the vehicle without including an inertial measurement unit in the vehicle.

3. The computer of claim 1 , the instructions including further instructions to determine the semantic point cloud image based on a single monocular image acquired by the sensor in the vehicle without including a stereo camera or lidar sensor in the vehicle.

4. The computer of claim 1 , the instructions including further instructions to determine the plurality of topological nodes by acquiring point cloud images with a stereo camera and determining locations of the point cloud images in real-world coordinates with visual odometry.

5. The computer of claim 1 , wherein the real-world six degree-of-freedom pose for the vehicle is determined in coordinates based on orthogonal x, y, and z axes and roll, pitch, and yaw rotations about the x, y, and z axes, respectively.

6. The computer of claim 1 , the instructions including further instructions to determine the location and size of the three-dimensional object in the semantic point cloud image with a convolutional neural network trained to determine a three-dimensional bounding box that includes the three-dimensional object and a real-world location relative to the vehicle for the three-dimensional object.

7. The computer of claim 6 , wherein three-dimensional background subtraction using the point cloud image is used to determine the three-dimensional bounding box by reducing background clutter caused by labeled regions that occur in both a current semantic point cloud and a semantic point cloud image included in a topological node.

8. The computer of claim 7 , wherein the convolutional neural network includes convolutional layers that output first latent variables to first fully connected neural network layers.

9. The computer of claim 1 , wherein the variational auto-encoder neural network determines the semantic point cloud image by outputting second latent variables to second fully connected neural network layers.

10. The computer of claim 1 , the instructions including further instructions to train the variational auto-encoder neural network to output the semantic point cloud image in a Siamese network configuration wherein the variational auto-encoder neural network is trained in parallel with a second variational auto-encoder network trained using a plurality of three-dimensional point cloud images acquired while traveling along a route that includes the plurality of topological nodes.

11. The computer of claim 10 , wherein region types included in the semantic point cloud image include roadway, sidewalk, vehicle, building, and foliage based on the plurality of three-dimensional point cloud images.

12. A method, comprising:

inputting an image acquired by a sensor in a vehicle to a variational auto-encoder neural network that outputs a semantic point cloud image that includes regions labeled by region type and region distance relative to the vehicle;

from a plurality of topological nodes, determining a topological node closest to the vehicle, and a six degree-of-freedom pose for the vehicle relative to the topological node closest to the vehicle, based on the semantic point cloud image, wherein each topological node includes a location in real-world coordinates and a three-dimensional point cloud image of an environment including the location of the topological node;

determining a real-world six degree-of-freedom pose for the vehicle by combining the six degree-of-freedom pose for the vehicle relative to the topological node closest to the vehicle and the location in real-world coordinates of the topological node closest to the vehicle; and

determine a location and size of a three-dimensional object in the semantic point cloud image based on three-dimensional background subtraction using the three-dimensional point cloud image included in the topological node closest to the vehicle.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising determining the real-world six degree-of-freedom pose for the vehicle based on a single monocular image acquired by the sensor in the vehicle without including an inertial measurement unit in the vehicle.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising determining the semantic point cloud image based on a single monocular image acquired by the sensor in the vehicle without including a stereo camera or lidar sensor in the vehicle.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising determining the plurality of topological nodes by acquiring point cloud images with a stereo camera and determining locations of the point cloud images in real-world coordinates with visual odometry.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the real-world six degree-of-freedom pose for the vehicle is determined in coordinates based on orthogonal x, y, and z axes and roll, pitch, and yaw rotations about the x, y, and z axes, respectively.

17. The method of claim 12 , the instructions including further instructions to determine the location and size of the three-dimensional object in the semantic point cloud image with a convolutional neural network trained to determine a three-dimensional bounding box that includes the three-dimensional object and a real-world location relative to the vehicle for the three-dimensional object.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein three-dimensional background subtraction using the point cloud image is used to determine the three-dimensional bounding box by reducing background clutter caused by labeled regions that occur in both a current semantic point cloud and a semantic point cloud image included in a topological node.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the convolutional neural network includes convolutional layers that output first latent variables to first fully connected neural network layers.

20. The method of claim 12 , wherein the variational auto-encoder neural network determines the semantic point cloud image by outputting second latent variables to second fully connected neural network layers.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 16, 2020
From: CHAKRAVARTY, PUNARJAY; SHRIVASTAVA, SHUBHAM
To: FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
Reel/Frame 054076/0606 →
Cited By (3)
US 12,462,549 US 12,657,764 US 12,711,772