Vision-based neural network road and intersection detection and traversal

The use of artificial neural networks in the domain of autonomous driving has produced promising results. ALVINN has shown that a neural system can drive a vehicle reliably and safely on many different types of roads, ranging from paved paths to interstate highways. The next step in the evolution of autonomous driving systems is to intelligently handle road junctions. In this paper the authors present an addition to the basic ALVINN driving system which makes autonomous detection of roads and traversal of simple intersections possible. The addition is based on geometrically modelling the world, accurately imaging interesting parts of the scene using this model, and monitoring ALVINN's response to the created image.