DETERMINING SEPARATION BETWEEN AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLES

摘要

A method is provided for measuring the distance from a host vehicle to a target vehicle using a distance measuring system provided on the host vehicle. The method comprises capturing an image; using image processing to detect a registration plate in the image thereby identifying the target vehicle, to detect a character on the registration plate, and to measure the height of the character in the image; and determining the distance to the target vehicle by using the measured height of the character. The distance to the target vehicle may be determined by means of a look-up table relating character height to distance. The method may utilize optical character recognition to determine the identity of a detected character. The method may be used in collision avoidance systems.