Closet In-Path Vehicle Detection and Recognition Algorithm Based on Camera and Millimeter-Wave Radar Fusion

The closet in-path vehicle (CIPV) is recognized relying on the detection results for road lane lines in most current ACC system, which may not work well in the poor conditions, for example, unclear road lane lines, low light level, bad weather, and so on. To solve this problem, the article proposes a sensor fusion-based CIPV recognition algorithm independent of road lane lines. First, a robust Kalman filter based on the global coordinate system is designed to fuse the millimeter-wave radar and camera targets. The fusion algorithm can dynamically adjust the covariance matrix of sensor observations to avoid the influence of anomalous observations on the fusion results. Stable detection of targets by the fusion algorithm is the basis of the CIPV recognition algorithm. Then, the CIPV recognition algorithm generates virtual lane lines using the motion parameters of self-vehicle or the driving trajectory of vehicle target and develops a mode switch strategy for virtual lane lines generation based on the driving state of target. This strategy can flexibly switch to the applicable virtual lane lines generation method in different scenarios. Finally, field tests are conducted in typical scenarios to verify the performance of the CIPV recognition algorithm. The results show that the algorithm is able to recognize CIPV stably and accurately without relying on road lane lines.