Road marking detection using LIDAR reflective intensity data and its application to vehicle localization

Abstract

A correct perception of road signalizations is required for autonomous cars to follow the traffic codes. Road marking is a signalization present on road surfaces and commonly used to inform the correct lane cars must keep. Cameras have been widely used for road marking detection, however they are sensible to environment illumination. Some LIDAR sensors return infrared reflective intensity information which is insensible to illumination condition. Existing road marking detectors that analyzes reflective intensity data focus only on lane markings and ignores other types of signalization. We propose a road marking detector based on Otsu thresholding method that make possible segment LIDAR point clouds into asphalt and road marking. The results show the possibility of detecting any road marking (crosswalks, continuous lines, dashed lines). The road marking detector has also been integrated with Monte Carlo localization method so that its performance could be validated. According to the results, adding road markings onto curb maps lead to a lateral localization error of 0.3119 m.