Patent ID: 8099213

Claim:
A method of detecting road-side edges in a road segment using a light-based sensing system, the method comprising the steps of: capturing input range data using the light-based sensing system; generating an elevation-based road segment based on the captured input range data; convolving the elevation-based road segment with a differential filter for generating a filter response for identifying a road segment candidate region, the road segment candidate region including a plurality of data points that form a candidate road segment, a first road-side edge candidate, and a second road-side edge candidate; calculating a standard deviation of the plurality of data points forming the road segment candidate region; determining an objective value for the road segment candidate region as a function of the standard deviation of the road segment candidate region and a number of data points within road segment candidate region; and comparing the objective value to a threshold for determining whether the road segment candidate region is a road segment.