New results on traffic sign recognition

In cooperation with Daimler-Benz AG within the European PROMETHEUS project the authors are developing a real-time traffic sign recognition system. The system is installed in a test vehicle of Daimler-Benz that operates autonomously on European highways and performs a vision based environmental analysis that includes, among others, road tracking, obstacle detection, lane traffic analysis and traffic sign recognition. Within the traffic sign recognition the authors´ group provides a real-time detection and classification of traffic signs. The authors´ traffic sign classifier (TSC) is based on the color segmentation system CSC (Color Structure Code) developed in their group. The authors present details of their latest CSC-evaluation strategies for the TSC. The authors have succeeded in developing a feature space for the localization of all traffic sign candidates. The main features of an object are the typical color, its form and the inclusion of certain forms and colors. The feature space allows a fast classification of the traffic sign candidates following a hierarchical decision graph. The overall decision of whether it is a traffic sign or not is made by a fuzzy control system handling the probabilities of all the single decisions. In addition the authors present several statistical evaluations for some thousands of images that will show the quality of their TSC. For a real-time behavior the authors tested different hardware components (C40, Motorola PC601, T 805) in a TIP system (transputer image processing) and they explain the results.