The 14 th International Conference on Machine Design and Production June 29 – July 02 2010, Güzelyurt, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus A NOVEL APPROACH TO IN-CAR ROAD SIGN RECOGNITION U. ZAKIR, u.zakir@lboro.ac.uk Loughborough University, DIRG, Loughborough, UK I. ZAFAR, i.zafar@lboro.ac.uk Loughborough University, DIRG, Loughborough, UK E.A.EDIRISINGHE, e.a.edirisinghe@lboro.ac.uk Loughborough University, DIRG, Loughborough, UK ABSTRACT Real-time in-car road sign detection and recognition systems can provide an additional level of driver assistance leading to improved safety to passengers, road-users and vehicles. Such systems can be used to alert a driver to the presence of a road sign, reducing risks in situations of driver distraction, fatigue and poor-driving conditions. In comparison to GPS based vehicle navigation systems that are currently being used, which depend on maps pre- annotated with road signs, an in-car vision system will provide real-time capability of road sign recognition, enabling accurate performance despite the lack of map coverage and any real-time additions of new road signs. This paper proposes the use of a novel combined colour model in the accurate and robust road sign segmentation. It is complemented by a novel approach to road sign recognition which is based on a Local Energy based Shape Histogram (LESH). Experimental results and a detailed analysis to prove the effectiveness of the proposed vision system are provided. An accuracy rate of above 97.5% is recorded. Keywords: Combined Colour Model, LESH, Road Sign Recognition 1. INTRODUCTION Road signs have meanings depending on the colours, shapes used and contents included within. Primarily road sign colours are Red, Blue, Green, Brown, Yellow or White, which signify and categorize their importance (see Table 1), e.g. Red for obligatory signs and Blue for advisory signs. Therefore colour plays an important initial role in a typical road sign detection task. Table 1. Significance of Colour as a Notation. Colour Location Meanings Blue City/Town Roads/Motorway Advisory Signs/Information Red City/Town Roads Prohibition/Danger Green City/Town Roads Directions 317