VEHICLE-TO-VEHICLE DISTANCE CALCULATION APPARATUS AND METHOD

摘要

The distance between vehicles is calculated in a comparatively simple and accurate manner. To achieve this, a target vehicle traveling ahead of one's own vehicle is imaged by a camera mounted one one's own vehicle. The image of the target vehicle is detected from the captured image. The position of a vanishing point and the position of a lower edge of the image representing the target image are detected from the captured image. The distance to the target vehicle is calculated based upon the detected positions.

主权项

1. A vehicle-to-vehicle distance calculation apparatus comprising:
an imaging control device for controlling a camera, which has been mounted on one's own vehicle, so as to image ahead of one's own vehicle; an edge detection device for detecting at least one of an upper edge and lower edge of a target-vehicle image, which represents a target vehicle, from within an image obtained by imaging by the camera; a vanishing point detection device for detecting a vanishing point from within the image obtained by imaging by the camera; and a distance calculation device for calculating the distance to the target vehicle based upon a position of at least one of the upper edge and lower edge detected by said edge detection device and position of the vanishing point detected by said vanishing point detection device.