Lane Characterization Under Challenging Scenarios for Autonomous Driving System

Automated vehicles, predicted to be fully electric in future, are expected to reduce road fatalities and road traffic emissions. The lane departure warning system, an important feature of automated vehicles, utilize lane detection and tracking algorithms. Researchers are constrained to test their lane detection algorithms because of the small publicly available datasets. Additionally, those datasets may not represent differences in road geometries, lane marking and other details unique to a particular geographic location. Existing methods to develop the ground truth datasets are time intensive. To address this gap, this study proposed a framework for an interpolation approach for quickly generating reliable ground truth data. The proposed method leverages the advantage of the existing manual and time-slice approaches. A detailed framework for the interpolation approach is presented and the performance of the approach is compared with the existing methods. Video datasets for performance evaluation were collected in Melbourne, Australia. The results show that the proposed approach outperformed four existing approaches with a reduction in time for generating ground truth data in the range from 4.8% to 87.4%. A reliable and quick method for generating ground truth data, as proposed in this study, will be valuable to researchers as they can use it to test and evaluate their lane detection and tracking algorithms.

The lane detecting algorithm plays a major role in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving systems. In recent years, deep learning-based lane detection techniques have shown encouraging results; nonetheless, the quality and size of the training data set has a significant impact on how effective these techniques are. Active learning is a technique that can improve the capacity of deep learning-based lane identification systems to repeatedly choose and classify valuable samples from a large body of unlabeled data. In this research, a novel 1-dimensional deep learning approach is used to present an augmented Active Learning based Lane Detection Algorithm (ALDA) that picks informative samples based on diversity- and uncertainty-based criteria. A number of benchmark datasets, including the CUlane, have been used to assess the suggested technique, In terms of accuracy and robustness, the suggested method (ALDA) performs better than four cutting-edge lane detecting algorithms. The findings show that active learning can significantly reduce the quantity of labelled data required for training while preserving good performance. The suggested method may improve the dependability and security of ADAS and autonomous driving systems. When compared to other distinct Deep Learning approaches, the proposed Active Learning based Lane Detection Algorithm (ALDA) obtains an accuracy of 98.01%, Precision of 98.5173%, Recall of 95.2296%, F1 score of 96.845%, mAP of 92.7%, and MSE of 0.0097

LaneScanNET: A deep-learning approach for simultaneous detection of obstacle-lane states for autonomous driving systems

An advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS), based on lane detection technology, detects dangerous situations through various sensors and either warns the driver or takes over direct control of the vehicle. At present, cameras are commonly used for lane detection; however, their performance varies widely depending on the lighting conditions. Consequently, many studies have focused on using radar for lane detection. However, when using radar, it is difficult to distinguish between the plain road surface and painted lane markers, necessitating the use of radar reflectors for guidance. Previous studies have used long-range radars which may receive interference signals from various objects, including other vehicles, pedestrians, and buildings, thereby hampering lane detection. Therefore, we propose a lane detection method that uses an impulse radio ultra-wideband radar with high-range resolution and metal lane markers installed at regular intervals on the road. Lane detection and departure is realized upon using the periodically reflected signals as well as vehicle speed data as inputs. For verification, a field test was conducted by attaching radar to a vehicle and installing metal lane markers on the road. Experimental scenarios were established by varying the position and movement of the vehicle, and it was demonstrated that the proposed method enables lane detection based on the data measured.

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) have emerged as a critical technology in enhancing vehicle safety, providing convenience to drivers, and facilitating the transition toward fully autonomous vehicles. The core of these systems relies heavily on computer vision (CV) technologies, which enable vehicles to interpret and understand their surrounding environment in real time. The integration of computer vision in ADAS allows vehicles to recognize and process various objects such as pedestrians, vehicles, traffic signs, and lane markings, significantly improving both safety and the driving experience. In this paper, we explore the pivotal role of computer vision in the development and implementation of ADAS in autonomous vehicles. We begin by reviewing the evolution of ADAS, detailing the different sub-systems such as lane departure warning, automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, and parking assistance, all of which depend on sophisticated image processing techniques. Furthermore, the paper examines the intersection of computer vision with other emerging technologies such as machine learning, deep learning, and sensor fusion. We discuss how these innovations enable ADAS to function more effectively in complex, dynamic environments. The methodology section focuses on cutting-edge algorithms used for object detection, semantic segmentation, and real-time image processing, which are integral to the functionality of modern ADAS. Additionally, we evaluate the challenges that computer vision systems face in real-world applications, including issues with sensor calibration, environmental conditions, computational limitations, and the integration of data from multiple sensors (e.g., cameras, LiDAR, radar). The paper also presents an analysis of the results obtained from various real-world implementations of ADAS technologies, highlighting improvements in driver safety and the reduction of traffic-related accidents. We explore the potential of computer vision in enabling fully autonomous driving by addressing the current gaps in technology and the advancements needed to close these gaps. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion on the future of ADAS and the role of computer vision in realizing fully autonomous, reliable, and efficient transportation systems. We argue that continued research and development in computer vision, combined with innovations in deep learning and sensor technologies, are critical to advancing the capabilities and reliability of autonomous vehicles in the near future.

Lane marking detection is part of most advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) as an important component of computer vision. This paper presents a lane detection system based on a novel lane feature extraction approach. The robustness and real-time of algorithm enable different configurations of embedded solutions. The system is divided into three phases. Firstly, using the Prewitt operator we can get the rich useful details and using Shen Jun operator we can get step edge, on the other hand Shen Jun operator is the best filter to detect the symmetrical markings according to the maximum signal noise ratio (SNR) criterion. So we introduce the best compromise method between noise smoothing and edge locating that combining the Prewitt operator with Shen Jun operator to extract lane markings. Then a fast Hough transform based on image pyramid is applied to get the lane lines. The posterior algorithm of reasonably refining the Lane lines angle is introduced to correct to error caused by Hough transform. Finally, robust detection of vehicle’s departure warning is also discussed. Experiment results on real road will be presented to prove the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed lane detection algorithm.

As intelligent transportation systems continue to advance, the integration of sophisticated machine vision technologies into autonomous driving becomes increasingly crucial. This article delves into a comprehensive approach that merges various machine vision techniques to bolster the safety features of autonomous vehicles. The focus is on three key aspects: enhancing lane-keeping capabilities, refining vehicle and lane detection algorithms, and developing proactive collision warning systems. By synthesizing state-of-the-art methods from current research, the paper presents a unified framework that not only improves the detection and tracking of road lanes and surrounding vehicles but also anticipates and alerts to potential hazards with greater accuracy and speed. The culmination of these improvements aims to significantly reduce the risk of on-road incidents, ensuring a safer autonomous driving experience. This integration represents a leap forward in the quest to resolve the complex challenges of autonomous vehicle navigation and safety, paving the way for more reliable and intelligent transportation solutions.

Lane detection plays a pivotal role in the successful implementation of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADASs), which are essential for detecting the road’s lane markings and determining the vehicle’s position, thereby influencing subsequent decision making. However, current deep learning-based lane detection methods encounter challenges. Firstly, the on-board hardware limitations necessitate an exceptionally fast prediction speed for the lane detection method. Secondly, improvements are required for effective lane detection in complex scenarios. This paper addresses these issues by enhancing the row-anchor-based lane detection method. The Transformer encoder–decoder structure is leveraged as the row classification enhances the model’s capability to extract global features and detect lane lines in intricate environments. The Feature-aligned Pyramid Network (FaPN) structure serves as an auxiliary branch, complemented by a novel structural loss with expectation loss, further refining the method’s accuracy. The experimental results demonstrate our method’s commendable accuracy and real-time performance, achieving a rapid prediction speed of 129 FPS (the single prediction time of the model on RTX3080 is 15.72 ms) and a 96.16% accuracy on the Tusimple dataset—a 3.32% improvement compared to the baseline method.

This paper proposes a lane detection algorithm using a laser range finder (LRF) for the autonomous navigation of a mobile robot. There are many technologies for ensuring the safety of vehicles, such as airbags, ABS, and EPS. Further, lane detection is a fundamental requirement for an automobile system that utilizes the external environment information of automobiles. Representative methods of lane recognition are vision-based and LRF-based systems. In the case of a vision-based system, the recognition of the environment of a three-dimensional space becomes excellent only in good conditions for capturing images. However, there are so many unexpected barriers, such as bad illumination, occlusions, vibrations, and thick fog, that the vision-based method cannot be used for satisfying the abovementioned fundamental requirement. In this paper, a three-dimensional lane detection algorithm using LRF that is very robust against illumination is proposed. For the three-dimensional lane detection, the laser reflection difference between the asphalt and the lane according to color and distance has been utilized with the extraction of feature points. Further, a stable tracking algorithm is introduced empirically in this research. The performance of the proposed algorithm of lane detection and tracking has been experimentally verified.

A robust and real-time lane detection method in low-light scenarios to advanced driver assistance systems

A major aspect in the development of advanced driving assistance systems (ADASs) is the research in developing human driving behavior prediction and recognition models. Recent contributions focus on developing these models for estimating different driving behaviors like lane or speed change. Thus, the models are incorporated into the ADAS to generate warnings and hints for safe maneuvers. Driving behavior recognition and prediction models are generally developed based on machine learning (ML) algorithms and are proven to generate accurate estimations. Previous review research contributions tend to focus on ML-based models for the prediction and recognition of speed change, trajectory change, and even driving styles. Due to high number of driving errors occurring during a lane change, a state-of-art review of different ML-based models for lane-changing behavior prediction and recognition is helpful to present a comparison between different models in terms of structure, influencing input variables, and performance. This enables the integration of the most efficient model for the development of ADASs to avoid accidents during a lane change. First, definitions and terms related to the model’s task and evaluation metrics used to evaluate the model’s performance are described to improve the readability. Then, the different input variables of the models affecting the lane-changing behaviors are presented. Next, a review of the models developed based on well-known approaches, such as artificial neural network (ANN), hidden Markov model (HMM), and support vector machine (SVM), using different input variables is given. Three lane-changing behaviors are focused on here: left/right lane change and lane keeping. The advantages and disadvantages of the different ML models with a comparison are summarized as well. Finally, the improvements required in the future are discussed.

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">The camera-based advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) like lane departure warning system (LDWS) and lane keeping assist (LKA) can make vehicles safer and driving easier. Lane detection is indispensable for these lane-based systems for achieving vehicle local localization and behavior prediction. Since the vision is vulnerable to the variable environment conditions such as bad weather, occlusions and illumination, the robustness is important. In this paper, a robust algorithm for detecting and tracking multiple lanes with arbitrary shape is proposed. We extend the previously lane detection and tracking process from the space domain to the temporal-spatial domain by using a more robust and general multi-lane model. First, new slice images containing temporal information are generated from image sequences. Instead of binarization process, we use a more general detector for extracting the lane marker candidates with prior knowledge to generate the binary slice image. Then, all the lane marker candidates are clustered into many lanes and as the initialization of the following particle filtering tracking process. We calculate the distance map in the binary slice image by using a modified distance algorithm and sample particles in the distance map. Finally, we can track the lane markers with particle filtering successfully. A range of experiment results indicate that the proposed algorithm can detect and track multiple lanes correctly and robustly. Comparing with other method, it has enough tolerance to variant illumination and occlusion.</div></div>

The advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) for adaptive cruise control and collision avoidance is strongly dependent upon the robust image recognition technology such as lane detection, vehicle/pedestrian detection, and traffic sign recognition. However, the conventional ADAS cannot realize more advanced collision evasion in real environments due to the absence of intelligent vehicle/pedestrian behavior analysis. Moreover, accurate distance estimation is essential in ADAS applications and semiglobal matching (SGM) is most widely adopted for high accuracy, but its system-on-chip (SoC) implementation is difficult due to the massive external memory bandwidth. In this paper, an ADAS SoC with behavior analysis with Artificial Intelligence functions and hardware implementation of SGM is proposed. The proposed SoC has dual-mode operations of highperformance operation for intelligent ADAS with real-time SGM in D-Mode (d-mode) and ultralow-power operation for black box system in parking-mode. It features: 1) task-level pipelined SGM processor to reduce external memory bandwidth by 85.8%; 2) region-of-interest generation processor to reduce 86.2% of computation; 3) mixed-mode intention prediction engine for dualmode intelligence; and 4) dynamic voltage and frequency scaling control to save 36.2% of power in d-mode. The proposed ADAS processor achieves 862 GOPS/W energy efficiency and 31.4GOPS/ mm(2) area efficiency, which are 1.53x and 1.75x improvements than the state of the art, with 30 frames/s throughput under 720p stereo inputs.

Lane detection is part of the advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) equipped in intelligent vehicles. The system provides the driver with significant geometric information of the road ahead. Numerous deep learning techniques have been employed in lane detection because of the simplicity, ease, and efficiency of these techniques in learning discriminative features from RGB (red, green, and blue) images. However, existing works have rarely considered detecting lane markings during bad weather conditions, which could reduce lane detection performance. Hence, this paper proposed a Fully Convolutional Network (FCN) model with RGB and Canny edge detection used as the model’s spatial input. The proposed platform was developed using two scenarios: FCN-RGB-edge and FCN-edge. The model development was divided into three stages, namely data acquisition, platform development, and benchmarking against existing methods and data. Both scenarios using the proposed method yielded a 4% improvement compared to the original FCN-RGB images (i.e., the previous method). The Canny edge detection method successfully extracted necessary information from the images and neglected the water drops in rainy conditions by treating them as noise. In summary, the proposed method has the potential to boost the performance of the ADAS system in detecting lane markings in rainy conditions.

According to the previous research, lane-changes are a major cause of serious traffic accidents. Thus, it is essential to build an efficient prediction algorithm for vehicles lane change on Advanced Driving Assistance System (ADAS) to ensure a safe and comfort driving for host vehicle. At present, many methods for lane change prediction have been proposed. However, most of them require a lot of data training to have a good prediction performance. Considering the practical applicability of the prediction algorithm in ADAS, this paper proposes a prediction method by probabilistic modelling. This method combines two aspects lane change evidence. On the one hand, model the lane change probability caused by the target vehicle's driving context. On the other hand, model the lane change probability reflected by vehicle posture in the road. The evaluation of the whole algorithms was done by using simulation data and real lane change data. The results show that the algorithm performs well in predicting accuracy and reducing false alarms.