Monocular model-based 3D vehicle tracking for autonomous vehicles in unstructured environment

In this paper we describe a novel approach to model-based monocular vehicle tracking out of a moving vehicle using active vision. The designed algorithm can cope with cluttered color images, complex lighting conditions as well as partial occlusion of the leading vehicle and is able to detect and track a vehicle even within unstructured offroad environments. Thanks to the used 3D model which describes the characteristic vehicle geometry and appearance in terms of vertexes, edges and colored surfaces, no special visual markers are required. The knowledge of vehicle´s geometry and appearance gained from the model are used within a particle filter to estimate the 6DoF position relative to the ego vehicle, thereby fusing edge as well as color information. We successfully use the proposed algorithm for pure vision based autonomous offroad convoy driving.