Road course estimation in a night vision application using a digital map, a camera sensor and a prototypical imaging radar system

This contribution presents a road course estimation system during night which covers distances up to 120 m in rural environment. This is essential for upcoming warning systems to decide, whether a detected object is on the road and thus of immediate importance. In order to realize a robust road course detection system we present a fusion system that combines the information provided by a prototypical imaging radar system, a digital map and a night vision camera sensor. The digital map is used to calculate the shape of the road, an ego motion estimator determines heading and position of the vehicle and a particle filter combines features from the camera and the radar sensor in order to match the road shape with the road visible in the image.