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 computer vision

Computer vision is a science that is used to make computers understand what is happening within an image. Some examples of the use of computer vision in self-driving cars are the detection of other vehicles, lanes, traffic signs, and pedestrians. In simple terms, computer vision helps computers understand images and videos, and determines what the computer is seeing in the surrounding environment.

The following screenshot shows how a human sees the world:

Fig 4.1: Human eye interpretation

In the preceding screenshot, we can see that humans see using their eyes. The visual information captured by their eyes is then interpreted in the brain, enabling the individual to conclude that the object is a bird. Similarly, in computer vision, the camera takes the role of the human eye and the computer takes the role of the brain, as shown in the following screenshot:

Fig 4.2: Computer interpretation 

Now the question is, what process actually happens in computer...