Mercedes-Benz

In this way it identifies buildings, vehicles, persons, trees and pavements among other things and reliably finds traffic lights as well as smaller dangerous obstructions on the road. Based on this, the autonomous vehicle analyses the traffic situation, predicts the behaviour of other road users and decides on its own behaviour. 'In daylight many systems for image and pattern recognition, on the market are reliable', says Dr Uwe Franke, responsible for image recognition/signal processing and sensor fusion in the Mercedes-Benz development department. 'Meanwhile, our system even offers top level results at night and that is a major development. The next step is about recognising and interpreting people's gestures and facial expressions.'