Differential Analysis of Two Model-Based Vehicle Tracking Approaches

An experimental comparison of ‘Edge-Element Association (EEA)’ and ‘Marginalized Contour (MCo)’ approaches for 3D model-based vehicle tracking in traffic scenes is complicated by the different shape and motion models with which they have been implemented originally. It is shown that the steering-angle motion model originally associated with EEA allows more robust tracking than the angular-velocity motion model originally associated with MCo. Details of the shape models can also make a difference, depending on the resolution of the images. Performance differences due to the choice of motion and shape model can outweigh the differences due to the choice of the tracking algorithm. Tracking failures of the two approaches, however, usually do not happen at the same frames, which can lead to insights into the relative strengths and weaknesses of the two approaches.