Book Image

Applied Deep Learning and Computer Vision for Self-Driving Cars

By : Sumit Ranjan, Dr. S. Senthamilarasu
Book Image

Applied Deep Learning and Computer Vision for Self-Driving Cars

By: Sumit Ranjan, Dr. S. Senthamilarasu

Overview of this book

Thanks to a number of recent breakthroughs, self-driving car technology is now an emerging subject in the field of artificial intelligence and has shifted data scientists' focus to building autonomous cars that will transform the automotive industry. This book is a comprehensive guide to use deep learning and computer vision techniques to develop autonomous cars. Starting with the basics of self-driving cars (SDCs), this book will take you through the deep neural network techniques required to get up and running with building your autonomous vehicle. Once you are comfortable with the basics, you'll delve into advanced computer vision techniques and learn how to use deep learning methods to perform a variety of computer vision tasks such as finding lane lines, improving image classification, and so on. You will explore the basic structure and working of a semantic segmentation model and get to grips with detecting cars using semantic segmentation. The book also covers advanced applications such as behavior-cloning and vehicle detection using OpenCV, transfer learning, and deep learning methodologies to train SDCs to mimic human driving. By the end of this book, you'll have learned how to implement a variety of neural networks to develop your own autonomous vehicle using modern Python libraries.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
1
Section 1: Deep Learning Foundation and SDC Basics
5
Section 2: Deep Learning and Computer Vision Techniques for SDC
10
Section 3: Semantic Segmentation for Self-Driving Cars
13
Section 4: Advanced Implementations

Introduction to neurons

In this section, we will discuss neurons, which are the basic building blocks of ANNs. In the following photograph, we can see actual real-life neurons as observed through a microscope:

Fig 2.3: A photograph of a neuron

You can find this photograph at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Neuron#/media/File:Pyramidal_hippocampal_neuron_40x.jpg.

The question now is how can we recreate neurons in ML? We need to create them since the whole purpose of deep learning is to mimic the human brain, one of the most powerful tools on the planet. So, the first step toward creating an ANN is to recreate a neuron.

Before creating a neuron in ML, we will examine the depiction of neurons created by Spanish neuroscientist Santiago Ramon y Cajal in 1899. 

Santiago Ramon y Cajal observed two neurons that had branches at the top and many threads below (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PurkinjeCell.jpg).

Nowadays, we have advanced technology that...