Patent ID: 8736463

Claim:
A method for maneuvering a vehicle, the method comprising: receiving sensor data from at least one sensor, the sensor data including a plurality of data points, each data point representing a location and elevation of a particular surface associated a section of roadway; accessing a detailed map of the section of roadway; identifying a disturbance in the sensor data indicative of an object in the section of roadway based on the detailed map, the disturbance being associated with a set of data points; estimating, by a processor, a bounding box for the disturbance based on the detailed map; projecting the set of data points of the disturbance onto a 2-dimensional intensity map within the estimated bounding box; identifying edges of the bounding box visible to the at least one sensor; adjusting a parameter of the estimated bounding box in order to increase a number of data points of the set of data points along the identified edges; and using the adjusted bounding box to maneuver the vehicle.