Pixel-Accurate Depth Evaluation in Realistic Driving Scenarios

Abstract: This work introduces an evaluation benchmark for depth estimation and completion using high-resolution depth measurements with angular resolution of up to 25" (arcsecond), akin to a 50 megapixel camera with per-pixel depth available. Existing datasets, such as the KITTI benchmark, provide only sparse reference measurements with an order of magnitude lower angular resolution - these sparse measurements are treated as ground truth by existing depth estimation methods. We propose an evaluation methodology in four characteristic automotive scenarios recorded in varying weather conditions (day, night, fog, rain). As a result, our benchmark allows us to evaluate the robustness of depth sensing methods in adverse weather and different driving conditions. Using the proposed evaluation data, we demonstrate that current stereo approaches provide significantly more stable depth estimates than monocular methods and lidar completion in adverse weather. Data and code are available at https://github.com/gruberto/PixelAccurateDepthBenchmark.git.