Development of AI-Based Vehicle Detection and Tracking System for C-ITS Application

There are various means of monitoring traffic situations on roads. Due to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) based image processing technology, there is a growing interest in developing traffic monitoring systems using camera vision data. This study provides a method for deriving traffic information using a camera installed at an intersection to improve the monitoring system for roads. The method uses a deep-learning-based approach (YOLOv4) for image processing for vehicle detection and vehicle type classification. Lane-by-lane vehicle trajectories are estimated by matching the detected vehicle locations with the high-definition map (HD map). Based on the estimated vehicle trajectories, the traffic volumes of each lane-by-lane traveling direction and queue lengths of each lane are estimated. The performance of the proposed method was tested with thousands of samples according to five different evaluation criteria: vehicle detection rate, vehicle type classification, trajectory prediction, traffic volume estimation, and queue length estimation. The results show a 99% vehicle detection performance with less than 20% errors in classifying vehicle types and estimating the lane-by-lane travel volume, which is reasonable. Hence, the method proposed in this study shows the feasibility of collecting detailed traffic information using a camera installed at an intersection. The approach of combining AI and HD map techniques is the main contribution of this study, which shows a high chance of improving current traffic monitoring systems.