Sparse scene flow segmentation for moving object detection in urban environments

Modern driver assistance systems such as collision avoidance or intersection assistance need reliable information on the current environment. Extracting such information from camera-based systems is a complex and challenging task for inner city traffic scenarios. This paper presents an approach for object detection utilizing sparse scene flow. For consecutive stereo images taken from a moving vehicle, corresponding interest points are extracted. Thus, for every interest point, disparity and optical flow values are known and consequently, scene flow can be calculated. Adjacent interest points describing a similar scene flow are considered to belong to one rigid object. The proposed method does not rely on object classes and allows for a robust detection of dynamic objects in traffic scenes. Leading vehicles are continuously detected for several frames. Oncoming objects are detected within five frames after their appearance.