Patent ID: 8751154

Claim:
Method for detecting a clear path of travel for a vehicle utilizing analysis of a plurality of images generated by a camera device located upon the vehicle, the images generated by the camera device are input to a processing module configured to execute the method comprising: monitoring the images; analyzing the images comprising determining a clear path upon which a potential road surface can be estimated from other portion of the images that do not indicate a potential road surface; determining an image of a traffic infrastructure indication; determining the content of the traffic infrastructure indication; iteratively fusing the content of the traffic infrastructure indication and the determined clear path to generate a modified clear path, comprising determining, during a first iteration, that the determined clear path describes a section along the potential road surface of a special zone that invalidates the content of the traffic infrastructure indication and enhancing the content of the traffic infrastructure indication to correspond with the section along the potential road surface or the special zone described by the determined clear path, determining, during a second iteration, that the enhanced content of the traffic infrastructure indication describes a threshold condition, the threshold condition selected to minimize at least one of non-critical and non-desirable distractions upon the vehicle operating in one of autonomous and semi-autonomous driving modes, and modifying the clear path based upon the enhanced content of the traffic infrastructure indication; and utilizing the modified clear path in navigation of the vehicle.