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Deep Learning for Autonomous Driving
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 15:41:55
Abstract
Autonomous driving has moved from the realm of science fiction to a very real possibility during the past twenty years, largely due to rapid developments of deep learning approaches, automotive sensors, and microprocessor capacity. This course covers the core techniques required for building a self-driving car, especially the practical use of deep learning through this theme.
Objective
Students will learn about the fundamental aspects of a self-driving car. They will also learn to use modern automotive sensors and HD navigational maps, and to implement, train and debug their own deep neural networks in order to gain a deep understanding of cutting-edge research in autonomous driving tasks, including perception, localization and control. After attending this course, students will: 1) understand the core technologies of building a self-driving car; 2) have a good overview over the current state of the art in self-driving cars; 3) be able to critically analyze and evaluate current research in this area; 4) be able to implement basic systems for multiple autonomous driving tasks.
Content
We will focus on teaching the following topics centered on autonomous driving: deep learning, automotive sensors, multimodal driving datasets, road scene perception, ego-vehicle localization, path planning, and control. The course covers the following main areas: I) Foundation a) Fundamentals of a self-driving car b) Fundamentals of deep-learning II) Perception a) Semantic segmentation and lane detection b) Depth estimation with images and sparse LiDAR data c) 3D object detection with images and LiDAR data d) Object tracking and motion prediction III) Localization a) GPS-based and Vision-based Localization b) Visual Odometry and Lidar Odometry IV) Path Planning and Control a) Path planning for autonomous driving b) Motion planning and vehicle control c) Imitation learning and reinforcement learning for self driving cars The exercise projects will involve training complex neural networks and applying them on real-world, multimodal driving datasets. In particular, students should be able to develop systems that deal with the following problems: - Sensor calibration and synchronization to obtain multimodal driving data; - Semantic segmentation and depth estimation with deep neural networks ; - Learning to drive with images and map data directly (a.k.a. end-to-end driving)
Resources
Lecture Notes
The lecture slides will be provided as a PDF.
Learning Materials (Links)
- Main link
- Course Website
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- MSC
- Frequency
- Yearly recurring
Examination
- Type
- session examination
- Mode
- oral 30 minutes
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| lecture |
Deep Learning for Autonomous Driving
Permission from lecturers required for all students.
|
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3 h weekly |
| practical/laboratory course |
Deep Learning for Autonomous Driving
Permission from lecturers required for all students.
|
|
2 h weekly |
Offered In
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Signal Processing and Machine Learning (The core courses and specialization courses below are a selection for students who wish to specialize in the area of "Signal Processing and Machine Learning ", see . The individual study plan is subject to the tutor's approval.)
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Specialization Courses (These specialization courses are particularly recommended for the area of "Signal Processing and Machine Learning", but you are free to choose courses from any other field in agreement with your tutor. A minimum of 40 credits must be obtained from specialization courses during the MSc EEIT.)
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Major Courses (A total of 42 CP must be achieved form courses during the Master Program. The individual study plan is subject to the tutor's approval.)
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