The invention relates to a method for detecting at least one object (9a, 9b, 9c) in a surrounding area (7) of a motor vehicle (1) by means of a driver assistance system (2), in which a transmission signal is transmitted in each of chronologically consecutive measurement cycles via a distance sensor (4), and a first and a second echo of the transmission signal reflected by the at least one object (9a, 9b, 9c) are received; and, by means of a control device (3), a first distance value (a1) is determined based on the first echo, a second distance value (a2) is determined based on the second echo, and a height of the at least one object (9a, 9b, 9c) is determined based on the first and the second distance value (a1, a2); wherein the measurement cycles are carried out during a relative movement of the motor vehicle (1) with respect to the at least one object (9a, 9b, 9c); in at least two of the measurement cycles, a difference value is determined in each case, which describes a difference between the second distance value (a2) and the first distance value (a1); and the height of the at least one object (9a, 9b, 9c) is determined based on a change in the respective difference value determined in the at least two measurement cycles.

The invention relates to a method for identifying parking spaces, including emitting an ultrasonic signal and receiving a reflected signal; and providing a grid which of a region having a plurality of cells. Each cell is assigned to a partial region of the region surrounding the vehicle and an occupancy value is assigned to each cell. The reflected signal is assigned to a set of cells of the grid based on a transit time of the ultrasonic signal between emission and reception. The occupancy values of the cells to which the reflected signal is allocated are increased by a specific value. An occupancy information item is determined based on the occupancy values of the cells. The signal emitting/receiving and the reflected signal assigning are repeated multiple times. Parking space identification is performed based on an occupancy status of the cells specified using the occupancy information item determination.

The parking assist apparatus includes a sensor that detects an object by receiving a reflected wave reflected by the object by a transmitted wave, and a controller that executes parking assist control for parking the vehicle in a parking space set based on a detection result of the sensor. The controller provides a predetermined margin to a size of a peripheral object, which is an object detected by the sensor and exists around the parking space, in a provisional direction in which the parking space is narrowed. The controller executes parking assist control using a size of the peripheral object to which the margin is provided. When the size of the peripheral object newly detected by the sensor becomes larger than the size to which the margin is provided, the controller executes parking assist control using the size of the peripheral object newly detected by the sensor.

An in-vehicle object determining apparatus cooperates with an obstacle sensor unit, which detects an obstacle at a first time. An estimated detected state is calculated as a detected state of the obstacle estimated to be detected by the obstacle sensor unit at a second time after a lapse of a predetermined time period from the first time, on condition that the obstacle is assumed to be under stationary state, based on (i) a vehicle-relative position of the obstacle detected at the first time, (ii) a sensor position of the obstacle sensor unit, and (iii) a vehicle position change during a period from the first time to the second time. It is determined that the obstacle is a moving object based on a discrepancy between the estimated detected state of the obstacle and a real detected state of the obstacle actually detected by the obstacle sensor unit at the second time.

An environment map includes cells, each of which is assigned to portions of the environment of a vehicle and each of which is assigned an obstacle probability that represents the probability that the corresponding portion of the environment is occupied by an obstacle. The vehicle has at least two environment sensors, each of which is designed to provide measurement data on the occupancy of a region of the environment by an obstacle, referred to as an obstacle region, in the respective detection region of the sensor. The measurement data describes obstacle regions which extend over multiple portions of the environment, and the detection regions of the environment sensors at most partly overlap. A method for providing the environment map for the vehicle has the following steps: receiving the measurement data from the at least two environment sensors, the measurement data of a first environment sensor identifying an obstacle region; determining occupancy probabilities for the portions of the environment covered by the identified obstacle region of the measurement data of the first environment sensor on the basis of the measurement data of at least one other environment sensor, wherein an occupancy probability for a portion indicates the probability that the corresponding portion of the environment is occupied by an obstacle; and updating the obstacle probability of the environmental map for at least the portions for which the occupancy probability has been determined.

A parking assistance device includes a pair of left and right sonar devices provided in a vehicle, an obstacle detection controller for determining whether an obstacle present within a determination target distance range on a side of the vehicle is a wall or a curb by comparing a level value of a reflection wave received by one of the sonar devices with each of a first threshold value and a second threshold value that are different from each other, and an automatic parking controller for setting a guiding route for automatic parking depending on a determination result, and the automatic parking controller sets the guiding route requiring a large amount of steering of the vehicle in a case where the determination result indicates a curb, compared with a case where the determination result indicates a wall in the automatic parking in the form of parallel parking.

A driving assistance system for a vehicle has a longer-distance sensor device for determining longer-distance information between a vehicle and an obstacle, and a shorter-distance sensor device for determining shorter-distance information between the vehicle and the obstacle. A dual-mode light emitting diode (LED module) can selectively emit both visible light and infrared light, and is part of the vehicle's driving-lights system, such as a headlight and/or a reversing light. The LED module emits infrared light when operating as part of the shorter-distance sensor device and an infrared receiver detects the reflected infrared light for distance determination. The longer-distance sensor device uses ultrasonic waves to determine distance information, and when it indicates that the distance has fallen below a threshold distance (below which the longer-distance sensing device is not reliable), a controller activates the shorter-distance sensing device.

A parking control device includes a detector and a determiner. The detector receives, from an ultrasonic sensor which transmits an ultrasonic wave and receives a reflected wave corresponding to the ultrasonic wave, a signal based on the reflected wave. The detector further detects a detection point group being an aggregate of a plurality of detection points of two parked vehicle groups adjacent to a parking space between the two parked vehicle groups, based on the signal. The determiner determines whether the parking space is an end-on parking space or a parallel parking space based on a position of at least a depression shape in at least a contour pattern being a pattern of the detection point group.

An object detection device is mounted on a moving body and detects an object that exists around the moving body. An object detection device includes a transmitter that transmits a transmission wave, a receiver that receives a reception wave generated by the transmission wave being reflected by the object, a mode setting unit that switches, in accordance with a predetermined condition, a plurality of distance modes including a short distance mode targeting a short distance range determined in advance, and a controller that sets a driving time of the transmission wave in the short distance mode to be shorter than the driving time of the transmission wave in another distance mode targeting a range farther than the short distance range.

A method for autonomous driving includes detecting an environment around a vehicle, autonomously driving the vehicle based on the detected environment, determining whether a target parking position has been set, determining an autonomous driving mode of the vehicle from among a first mode for controlling a speed of the vehicle to move the vehicle to the target parking position and a second mode for searching for an available parking position, based on a determination of the autonomous driving mode from among the first and second modes, autonomously driving the vehicle in one of the first and second modes, based on autonomously driving the vehicle in one of the first and second modes, determining whether a condition is satisfied, and based on a determination that the condition is satisfied, switching the autonomous driving mode to the other of the first and second modes.