	US 12,135,375 B2
	Systems and methods for camera-LiDAR fused object detection with local variation segmentation
Jason Ziglar, Pittsburgh, PA (US); Arsenii Saranin, Pittsburgh, PA (US); Basel Alghanem, Pittsburgh, PA (US); and G. Peter K. Carr, Allison Park, PA (US)
Assigned to Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US)
Filed by FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US)
Filed on Oct. 23, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/078,548.
Prior Publication US 2022/0128702 A1, Apr. 28, 2022
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G01S 17/931 (2020.01); G06F 18/22 (2023.01); G06F 18/2413 (2023.01); G06N 7/00 (2023.01); G06N 7/01 (2023.01); G06T 5/50 (2006.01); G06T 7/70 (2017.01)

CPC G01S 17/931 (2020.01) [G06F 18/22 (2023.01); G06F 18/24147 (2023.01); G06N 7/01 (2023.01); G06T 5/50 (2013.01); G06T 7/70 (2017.01); G06T 2207/10028 (2013.01); G06T 2207/30252 (2013.01); G06V 2201/07 (2022.01)]

20 Claims

1. A method for controlling an autonomous vehicle, comprising:

obtaining, by a computing device, a LiDAR dataset generated by a LiDAR system of the autonomous vehicle;

obtaining, by the computing device, at least one image that was captured at a time when a sensor of the LiDAR system swept over a center of a camera Field of View;

using, by the computing device, the LiDAR dataset and the at least one image to detect an object that is in proximity to the autonomous vehicle, the object being detected by

computing a distribution of object detections that each point of the LiDAR dataset is likely to be in,

creating a plurality of segments of LiDAR data points using the distribution of object detections, and

detecting the object in a point cloud defined by the LiDAR dataset based on the plurality of segments of LiDAR data points; and

using, by the computing device, the object detection to facilitate at least one autonomous driving operation.