A Distance Estimation Method to Railway Crossing Using Warning Signs

A mobility scooter has come to be used to expand the range of mobility for the elderly. On the other hand, accidents involving mobility scooters have become serious problems. For example, if a mobility scooter stops inside a railway crossing due to battery exhaustion, it is very dangerous because accidental contact with a train may happen. Measuring the distance to a railway crossing during driving is helpful to avoid entrance to a railway crossing without enough battery. In this paper, we propose a method for predicting the distance to a railroad crossing based on the railway crossing warning signs in the video from a camera installed in front of the mobility scooter. In experiments, we evaluate the proposed method using images taken at various positions in relation to the railway crossing and show that the proposed method achieves higher accuracy than the distance estimation using a depth sensor.