Patent ID: 10043080

Abstract:
A self-position calculating apparatus includes: a light projector 11 configured to project a patterned light beam 32a onto a road surface 31 around a vehicle; and a camera 12 configured to capture an image 38 of the road surface 31 around the vehicle including an area onto which the patterned light beam 32a is projected. The self-position calculating apparatus calculates an orientation angle of the vehicle 10 relative to the road surface 31 from a position of the patterned light beam 32a on the image 38 obtained by the camera 12, and calculates an amount of change in the orientation of the vehicle based on temporal changes in multiple feature points on the road surface which are detected from the image 38. The self-position calculating apparatus calculates current position and orientation angle of the vehicle by adding the amount of change in the orientation to initial position and orientation angle of the vehicle. If a condition under which the multiple feature points are detected does not satisfy a first criterion, the self-position calculating apparatus projects the patterned light beam 32a.