Yeah, vision is indeed used only to localize, not really to recognize the track. Low-key this is what I don't like Waymo/Cruise approach to autonomous driving - they use HD maps to localize themselves and I see that as finding an easy way out instead of tackling the harder problem.
danuker|3 years ago
It is fast, and it produces the richest point clouds I've seen, from even monocular video. The "Direct" comes from directly using pixels, not features such as SIFT/SURF.
I suppose it could be used in environments with not too many reflective or transparent objects.