ADAS-Perception for Trailer Backup Assist

Backing up a trailer is always a challenging task even for experienced drivers. While backing up, the trailer will only turn towards the side which is already on. If allowed to turn unimpeded the trailer would go into jackknife or even collide with the car. Trailer Backup Assist feature allows the user to backup straight or allow the trailer to go in user desired direction. For automatic steering control while backing up with trailer, Trailer Hitch Angle Detection (TAD) or “The Relative position of the trailer with respective to center line axis of the vehicle” is very crucial to adjust the steering wheel to make the trailer go straight. Trailer Angle detected using rearview camera of the vehicle will be an input to vehicle control along with Vehicle Kinematics. Before activating the Trailer Backup Assist feature, the parameters of the Trailer connected to the ego vehicle has to estimated using a specific calibration maneuver. In most of the trailer backup systems in current market, manual user input is required. To make the system completely fully automatic, background calibration is proposed. This proposed approach collects Trailer features during normal user drive and then based on the features, Trailer Angle is determined. Once the calibration is finished, features will be stored and used to retrieve Trailer ID. Using our own proprietary dataset containing 5 different types of trailers which is captured in different scenario, we have achieved expected KPI in a low powered embedded system.