Moving Objects Detection by Conflict Analysis in Evidential Grids

Advanced Driving Assistance Systems exploit exteroceptive sensors to help the driver in perceiving the dynamic environment, like other vehicles or pedestrians. This paper proposes an original approach to deal with this perception challenge in urban environments. The method detects mobile objects motions using grids elaborated thanks to a lidar range scanner and an enhanced map of the drivable space. The data fusion is performed using the Dempster-Shafer theory which provides an interesting framework particularly well adapted to manage the uncertainties of the sensors. By analyzing conflicting information, objects movements can be efficiently characterized. This formalism provides also the interesting possibility to introduce decay factors that are useful for forgetting old information. Experimental results obtained with an IBEO Alasca and an Applanix positioning system show that such a perception strategy can be effective compared to deterministic accumulation strategies.