Systems and methods for projecting a three-dimensional (3D) surface to a two-dimensional (2D) surface for use in autonomous driving

1. A control system for an autonomous vehicle, comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable memory in communication with the processor and having stored thereon computer-executable instructions to cause the processor to:

receive a three-dimensional (3D) map comprising a plurality of objects,

receive a route for navigating the autonomous vehicle,

determine a base point in the 3D map based on the received route, the determined base point being outside of an effective area surrounding an origin of the 3D map, the effective area defining an area in which distortions resulting from projecting the 3D map to a 2D map are based on a threshold,

shift locations of the plurality of objects in the 3D map to generate a shifted 3D map with a location of the base point at an origin of the shifted 3D map such that the base point in the shifted 3D map is within the effective area,

project the plurality of objects in the shifted 3D map to a 2D map, and

navigate the autonomous vehicle using the 2D map.

2. The control system of claim 1 , wherein determining the base point in the 3D map comprises selecting a point in the 3D map that is within a predetermined distance of the received route as the base point.

3. The control system of claim 1 , wherein determining the base point in the 3D map is a midpoint along the received route.

4. The control system of claim 1 , wherein determining the base point in the 3D map is a current location of the autonomous vehicle within the 3D map.

5. The control system of claim 1 , wherein determining the base point in the 3D map is a destination of the received route.

6. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the memory further has stored thereon computer-executable instructions to cause the processor to:

determine a vector representing a shift of the base point from an original location to the origin,

wherein the shifting of the plurality of objects in the 3D map comprises shifting each object of the plurality of objects by the vector.

7. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the projecting of the objects is performed using one of the following projection techniques: Mercator, Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM), Equirectangular, Cassini, cylindrical, and pseudocylindrical projections.

8. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the memory further has stored thereon computer-executable instructions to cause the processor to:

determine the effective area on the 2D map in which the distortions correspond to a projection technique from the 3D map to the 2D map.

9. The control system of claim 8 , wherein a shape and a size of the effective area are based on the projection technique used in the projecting of the plurality of objects.

10. The control system of claim 9 , wherein the projection technique is a Mercator projection.

11. The control system of claim 10 , wherein the effective area comprises an area at a predetermined distance from an equator defined with respect to the origin of the shifted 3D map.

12. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, cause at least one computing device to:

receive a three-dimensional (3D) map comprising a plurality of objects;

receive a route for navigating an autonomous vehicle;

determine a base point in the 3D map based on the received route, the determined base point being outside of an effective area surrounding an origin of the 3D map, the effective area defining an area in which distortions resulting from projecting the 3D map to a 2D map are based on a threshold;

shift locations of the plurality of objects in the 3D map to generate a shifted 3D map with a location of the base point at an equator of the shifted 3D map such that the base point in the shifted 3D map is within the effective area;

project the plurality of objects in the shifted 3D map to a 2D map; and

navigate the autonomous vehicle using the 2D map.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the projecting of the plurality of objects comprises using a Mercator projection.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12 , further having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, cause at least one computing device to:

determine a midpoint between a current location and a destination of the route,

wherein the midpoint is set as the base point.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12 , further having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, cause at least one computing device to:

calculate a geometric value based on the locations of at least two of the plurality of objects in the 2D map,

wherein the navigating of the autonomous vehicle is based at least in part on the geometric value.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the geometric value is a geodetic distance between the at least two of the plurality of objects.

17. A method comprising:

receiving a three-dimensional (3D) map comprising a plurality of objects;

receiving a route for navigating an autonomous vehicle;

determining a base point in the 3D map based on the received route, the determined base point being outside of an effective area surrounding an origin of the 3D map, the effective area defining an area in which distortions resulting from projecting the 3D map to a 2D map are based on a threshold;

shifting locations of the plurality of objects in the 3D map to generate a shifted 3D map with a location of the base point at an origin of the shifted 3D map such that the base point in the shifted 3D map is within the effective area;

projecting the plurality of objects in the shifted 3D map to a 2D map; and

navigating the autonomous vehicle using the 2D map.