Vehicle detection using deep learning technique in tunnel road environments

Abstract

This paper proposes a real-time detection method for a car driving ahead in real time on a tunnel road. Unlike the general road environment, the tunnel environment is irregular and has significantly lower illumination, including tunnel lighting and light reflected from driving vehicles. The environmental restrictions are large owing to pollution by vehicle exhaust gas. In the proposed method, a real-time detection method is used for vehicles in tunnel images learned in advance using deep learning techniques. To detect the vehicle region in the tunnel environment, brightness smoothing and noise removal processes are carried out. The vehicle region is learned after generating a learning image using the ground-truth method. The YOLO v2 model, with an optimal performance compared to the performances of deep learning algorithms, is applied. The training parameters are refined through experiments. The vehicle detection rate is approximately 87%, while the detection accuracy is approximately 94% for the proposed method applied to various tunnel road environments.