METHOD OF MONITORING LOCALIZATION FUNCTIONS IN AN AUTONOMOUS DRIVING VEHICLE

In one embodiment, a method for monitoring a localization function in an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV) can use known static objects as ground truths to determine when the localization function encounter errors. The known static objects are marked on a high definition (HD) map for the real-time driving environment. When the ADV detects one or more known static objects, the ADV can use sensor data, locations of the one or more static objects, and one or more error tolerance parameters to create a localization error tolerance area surrounding a current location of the ADV. The ADV can project the tolerance area on the HD map, performs a localization operation to generate an expected location of the ADV on the HD map, and determines whether the generated location falls within the projected tolerance area. If the generated location falls outside the projected tolerance area, indicating a localization function of the ADV encounter errors, the ADV can generate an alarm to alert a human driver to switch to a manual driving mode. If no human driver is available in the ADV, the ADV can activate a vision-based fail-safe localization procedure.