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  "story": {
    "story_id": "mp-2026-11-05-011",
    "source_story_id": "tmp-story-occlusion-disagreement",
    "edition_id": "mp-2026-11-05-morning-0118",
    "edition_url": "https://themachinepress.com/edition/2026-11-05",
    "position": 11,
    "story_type": "dispatch",
    "section": "robotics",
    "editorial_classification": "editorial",
    "headline": "Two Distance Estimates Reveal the Hidden Pedestrian",
    "slug": "two-distance-estimates-reveal-the-hidden-pedestrian",
    "dek": "A training-free score detects occlusion when apparent human height and monocular depth disagree.",
    "summary": "A training-free score detects occlusion when apparent human height and monocular depth disagree.",
    "body_text": "A person's detected box can retain full apparent height while a depth map is pulled toward the nearer occluder. The method needs only the ordering of those cues, not focal length, true stature or calibrated depth scale. It reports 0.909 AUC for heavy occlusion on KITTI and remains strong inside fixed distance bands, while distance alone sits near chance. Synthetic CARLA scenes produce 0.819 AUC. The authors also document cross-region detector degradation, but these results do not eliminate missed detections or establish performance on every camera and city.",
    "why_it_matters": "A training-free score detects occlusion when apparent human height and monocular depth disagree.",
    "limitations": [
      "The method needs only the ordering of those cues, not focal length, true stature or calibrated depth scale.",
      "The authors also document cross-region detector degradation, but these results do not eliminate missed detections or establish performance on every camera and city."
    ],
    "importance": 9,
    "canonical_url": "https://themachinepress.com/story/mp-2026-11-05-011/two-distance-estimates-reveal-the-hidden-pedestrian",
    "json_url": "https://themachinepress.com/story/mp-2026-11-05-011.json",
    "first_published_at": "2026-11-05T09:00:00.000-05:00",
    "modified_at": "2026-11-05T09:00:00.000-05:00",
    "content_status": "new",
    "is_carryover": false,
    "carryover_reason": null,
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        "text": "A training-free score detects occlusion when apparent human height and monocular depth disagree.",
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        "qualification": "The method needs only the ordering of those cues, not focal length, true stature or calibrated depth scale."
      }
    ],
    "source_ids": [
      "source-2026-11-05-011"
    ],
    "tags": [
      "occlusion",
      "pedestrian detection",
      "monocular depth",
      "robot perception"
    ],
    "image_url": null,
    "corrections": []
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "source_id": "source-2026-11-05-011",
      "title": "arXiv preprint 2611.06899, original v1",
      "publisher": "arXiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.06899v1",
      "canonical_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.06899v1",
      "source_type": "primary_research",
      "is_primary_source": true,
      "published_at": "2026-11-04T13:49:13.000-05:00",
      "accessed_at": "2026-11-05T08:29:24.413-05:00",
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  "corrections": [],
  "publisher": {
    "name": "The Machine Press",
    "url": "https://themachinepress.com",
    "description": "A daily newspaper for the age of artificial intelligence."
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  "cite_this_report": {
    "title": "Two Distance Estimates Reveal the Hidden Pedestrian",
    "publisher": "The Machine Press",
    "published_at": "2026-11-05T09:00:00.000-05:00",
    "canonical_url": "https://themachinepress.com/story/mp-2026-11-05-011/two-distance-estimates-reveal-the-hidden-pedestrian"
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