Semantic Evidential Grid Mapping based on Stereo Vision

Abstract

Accurately estimating the current state of local traffic scenes is a crucial component of automated vehicles. The desired representation may include static and dynamic traffic participants, details on free space and drivability, but also information on the semantics. Multi-layer grid maps allow to include all these information in a common representation. In this work, we present an improved method to estimate a semantic evidential multi-layer grid map using depth from stereo vision paired with pixel-wise semantically annotated images. The error characteristics of the depth from stereo is explicitly modeled when transferring pixel labels from the image to the grid map space. We achieve accurate and dense mapping results by incorporating a disparity-based ground surface estimation in the inverse perspective mapping. The proposed method is validated on our experimental vehicle in challenging urban traffic scenarios.