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Main Authors: de Moreau, Simon, Almehio, Yasser, Bursuc, Andrei, El-Idrissi, Hafid, Stanciulescu, Bogdan, Moutarde, Fabien
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.08031
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author de Moreau, Simon
Almehio, Yasser
Bursuc, Andrei
El-Idrissi, Hafid
Stanciulescu, Bogdan
Moutarde, Fabien
author_facet de Moreau, Simon
Almehio, Yasser
Bursuc, Andrei
El-Idrissi, Hafid
Stanciulescu, Bogdan
Moutarde, Fabien
contents Nighttime camera-based depth estimation is a highly challenging task, especially for autonomous driving applications, where accurate depth perception is essential for ensuring safe navigation. Models trained on daytime data often fail in the absence of precise but costly LiDAR. Even vision foundation models trained on large amounts of data are unreliable in low-light conditions. In this work, we aim to improve the reliability of perception systems at night time. To this end, we introduce Light Enhanced Depth (LED), a novel, cost-effective approach that significantly improves depth estimation in low-light environments by harnessing a pattern projected by high definition headlights available in modern vehicles. LED leads to significant performance boosts across multiple depth-estimation architectures (encoder-decoder, Adabins, DepthFormer, Depth Anything V2) both on synthetic and real datasets. Furthermore, increased performances beyond illuminated areas reveal a holistic enhancement in scene understanding. Finally, we release the Nighttime Synthetic Drive Dataset, a synthetic and photo-realistic nighttime dataset, which comprises 49,990 comprehensively annotated images.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_08031
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle LED: Light Enhanced Depth Estimation at Night
de Moreau, Simon
Almehio, Yasser
Bursuc, Andrei
El-Idrissi, Hafid
Stanciulescu, Bogdan
Moutarde, Fabien
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Robotics
Nighttime camera-based depth estimation is a highly challenging task, especially for autonomous driving applications, where accurate depth perception is essential for ensuring safe navigation. Models trained on daytime data often fail in the absence of precise but costly LiDAR. Even vision foundation models trained on large amounts of data are unreliable in low-light conditions. In this work, we aim to improve the reliability of perception systems at night time. To this end, we introduce Light Enhanced Depth (LED), a novel, cost-effective approach that significantly improves depth estimation in low-light environments by harnessing a pattern projected by high definition headlights available in modern vehicles. LED leads to significant performance boosts across multiple depth-estimation architectures (encoder-decoder, Adabins, DepthFormer, Depth Anything V2) both on synthetic and real datasets. Furthermore, increased performances beyond illuminated areas reveal a holistic enhancement in scene understanding. Finally, we release the Nighttime Synthetic Drive Dataset, a synthetic and photo-realistic nighttime dataset, which comprises 49,990 comprehensively annotated images.
title LED: Light Enhanced Depth Estimation at Night
topic Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.08031