B-spline-based road model for 3d lane recognition

The assumption of a planar road is rarely fulfilled on rural roads and often violated in construction zones. Hills and dips are common and curves with small radius often have an inclination towards the center. In this paper a novel road model is presented, which uses B-Spline modeling to describe the 3D road course. The right and left vertical road courses are modeled separately to represent the roll angle of the road. The well-proven clothoid model used for lateral road course estimation is extended with a B-Spline curve resulting in a more flexible road model as needed for rural roads and construction sites. This road model is tracked over time using a Kalman filter. Stereo measurements provide height information of the road surface, which are used for the 3D lane recognition.