A Lane Detection Algorithm for Personal Vehicles

By the term "personal vehicle," we mean a simple and lightweight vehicle expected to emerge as a personal ground transportation device. The motorcycle, electric wheelchair, and motor-powered bicycle are examples of the personal vehicle and have been developed for personal transportation use. Recently, a new type of intelligent personal vehicle called the Segway has been developed, which is controlled and stabilized by using on-board intelligent multiple sensors. The demand for such personal vehicles is increasing: (1) to enhance human mobility, (2) to support mobility for elderly persons, and (3) to reduce environmental load. With the rapid growth of the personal vehicle market, the number of accidents caused by human error is also increasing. These accidents are associated with driving capabilities; to enhance or support driving capabilities as well as to prevent accidents, intelligent assistance is necessary. One of the most important elementary functions for personal vehicles is robust lane detection. In this paper, we develop a robust lane detection method for personal vehicles in outdoor environments. The proposed lane detection method employs a 360 degrees omnidirectional camera and unique robust image processing algorithm. In order to detect lanes, a combination of the template matching technique and the Hough transform is employed. The validity of the proposed lane detection algorithm was confirmed with a prototype vehicle under various types of sunshine conditions. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 177(4): 23-32, 2011; Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.21193