A sequence of images and a vehicle location associated with each of the images is received at a traffic light ROI management system. At least one traffic light is detected in each image. A ECS traffic light ROI is defined for each image. The ECS traffic light ROI encloses the detected traffic lights. A visual feature template is generated for each image. The visual feature template is based on the ECS traffic light ROI for the image. Each visual feature template is mapped to the vehicle location associated with the image to a HD map. The HD map is transmitted to an autonomous vehicle to enable the autonomous vehicle to identify a real-time traffic light ROI in a real-time image based on a match between a first visual feature template and real-time visual features of the real-time image at the vehicle location associated with the first visual feature template.