Detecting Change between Urban Road Environments along a Route Based on Static Road Object Occurrences

Abstract

For over a decade, urban road environment detection has been a target of intensive research. The topic is relevant for the design and implementation of advanced driver assistance systems. Typically, embedded systems are deployed in these for the operation. The environments can be categorized into road environment-types. Abrupt transitions between these pose a traffic safety risk. Road environment-type transitions along a route manifest themselves also in changes in the distribution of traffic signs and other road objects. Can the placement and the detection of traffic signs be modelled jointly with an easy-to-handle stochastic point process, e.g., an inhomogeneous marked Poisson process? Does this model lend itself for real-time application, e.g., via analysis of a log generated by a traffic sign detection and recognition system? How can the chosen change detector help in mitigating the traffic safety risk? A change detection method frequently used for Poisson processes is the cumulative sum (CUSUM) method. Herein, this method is tailored to the specific stochastic model and tested on realistic logs. The use of several change detectors is also considered. Results indicate that a traffic sign-based road environment-type change detection is feasible, though it is not suitable for an immediate intervention.