Evaluating Navigation Performance of Elastically Constructed HD Map with Multi-Sensor Fusion Engine System

In response to the rapid development of autonomous vehicles and the increasing demand for HD maps, the conventional mapping processes following HD maps guidelines require significant manpower and time resources. Therefore, we propose flexible procedures and methods for HD maps creation, aiming to reduce cost expenditure by employing diverse source of ground control point, sensor data collection, and mapping algorithm. This approach accelerates the production speed and capability of HD maps. In this study, we select Taiwan's National Highway No. 8 as the trial field for the elastic HD map construction method, and equipped with autonomous vehicle-grade GNSS, IMU, and LiDAR systems. We align the constructed-map data to the global coordinate system, in order to realize the concept of control point cloud map. To assess the assistance and correction capabilities of HD maps in autonomous vehicle navigation systems, we conduct accuracy evaluation through both direct and indirect methods, and analyse the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. The analysis result demonstrates that the elastic method-built HD maps not only meet the mapping accuracy requirements specified in the HD maps verification and validation guidelines, but also assist autonomous vehicles in realizing positioning, navigation, and timing with “where in lane” level (0.5 meter) accuracy.