Patent Document ID: 9098754
Application ID: 14262651
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method comprising: receiving, at a computing device, laser data indicative of an environment of a vehicle, wherein the laser data includes a plurality of data points associated with one or more objects in the environment; based on the plurality of data points, generating a two dimensional range image that includes a plurality of pixels indicative of respective positions of the one or more objects in the environment relative to the vehicle; modifying the generated two dimensional range image to provide respective values to one or more given pixels of the plurality of pixels that map to one or more portions of the one or more objects in the environment lacking laser data, wherein modifying the generated two dimensional range image to provide respective values to the one or more given pixels is based on respective neighboring pixels of the plurality of pixels positioned proximal to the one or more given pixels of the plurality of pixels in the two dimensional range image; based on the modified two dimensional range image, determining a plurality of normal vectors of one or more sets of pixels in the plurality of pixels that correspond to respective surfaces of the one or more objects in the environment; and based on the plurality of normal vectors of the one or more sets of pixels, providing object recognition information indicative of the one or more objects in the environment to one or more systems of the vehicle.