Obstacle detection from IPM and super-homography

We present in this article a simple method to estimate an IPM view from an embedded camera. The method is based on the tracking of the road markers assuming that the road is locally planar. Our aim is the development of a free-space estimator which can be implemented in an Autonomous Guided Vehicle to allow a safe path planning. Opposite to most of the obstacle detection methods which make assumptions on the shape or height of the obstacles, all the scene elements above the road plane (particularly kerbs and poles) have to be detected as obstacles. Combined with the IPM tranformation, this obstacle detection stage can be viewed as the first stage of a free-space estimator dedicated to AGV in the complex urban environments.