A new road tracking method based on heading direction detection

Abstract

Current research on road tracking is mostly based on the visual perception of road boundaries. In this paper, we propose a novel and general road tracker based on optical flow computation, which can be applied to most of road environments including the case of a lack of lane markings or road boundaries. When the heading direction of the vehicle and the road direction are identical, the focus of expansion (FOE) coincides with the road vanishing point (RVP). This is an important foundation for the subsequent heading direction departure decision. By comparing the relative positions of the estimated FOE and RVP, we can learn the traveling state of the vehicle. The experimental results show that the proposed tracker is a simple and efficient road tracking method.