Panoramic vision system for an intelligent vehicle using a laser sensor and cameras

We propose a multipurpose panoramic vision system for eliminating the blind spot and informing the driver of approaching vehicles using three cameras and a laser sensor. A wide-angle camera is attached to the trunk and two cameras are attached under each side-view mirror to eliminate the blind spot of a vehicle. A l a s e r sensor is attached on the rear-left of the vehicle to gather information from around the vehicle. First of all, the proposed system displays laser sensor data in three dimensions and performs the calibration between laser sensor data and a rear image for finding road boundaries and gathering information on other vehicles. The proposed system computes the homography between the rear image and the laser sensor data interactively and overlaps the laser sensor data on the rear image for improving driver's recognition. Then, the system generates a panoramic mosaic view to eliminate the blind spot. First, the system computes the focus-of-contraction (FOC) in images taken from the rear-view and the homography between each side-view image and a rear-view on pre-processing. Next, the system performs the image registration process after road and background region segmentation using laser sensor data. Finally, it generates various views such as a cylindrical panorama view, a top view, a side view and an information panoramic mosaic view for displaying varied safety information.