A method for automating the operations of one or more vehicle-mounted cameras in a vehicle-mounted apparatus, obtains information of a geographic position of a vehicle and indications from a high-precision map as to conditions on the stretch of road being travelled by the vehicle. Information as to conditions of the road can include a width of the section of road being travelled by the vehicle. When the information of the road matches with a camera turn-on condition, such as for example the width of the road being less than a first predefined value, the vehicle-mounted camera is turned on. A system applying the method is also provided.

An information display device includes a surrounding environment detector, a vehicle information acquirer, a predictor, an avoidance path provider, and an information display. The surrounding environment detector detects position relevant information related to a position of at least a surrounding object in a surrounding environment of a vehicle. The vehicle information acquirer detects vehicle information including a speed and a steering direction of the vehicle. The predictor predicts a contact of the vehicle with the surrounding object, based on the position relevant information and the vehicle information. When the predictor has predicted that there is a possibility of the contact of the vehicle with the surrounding object, the avoidance path provider assumes an avoidance path for avoiding the contact, based on the position relevant information and the vehicle information. The information display displays the avoidance path.

A warning device according to the present invention includes an image acquisition unit configured to acquire an image group including a plurality of images taken in succession, a detection unit configured to perform detection of an object on each of images in the image group, a determination unit configured to compare detection results of the object in the image group in chronological order and determine a degree of movement of the object, and a warning unit configured to issue a warning in accordance with the determined degree of movement, wherein

the image acquisition unit acquires a plurality of image groups respectively based on a plurality of filter characteristics and the determination unit compares corresponding images between the plurality of image groups and thereby selects an image with high detection accuracy for each time period, compares the selected images in chronological order, and determines the degree of movement of the object.

A driving assistance system includes at least one receiving module designed to receive perception data from a driving environment, a control module designed to control an on-board system, a conversion module designed to generate, on the basis of the perception data, a plurality of instances of classes of an ontology stored by the driving assistance system and defining relations between classes, and a reasoning tool designed to deduce, on the basis of the ontology, at least one property of an instance of the plurality. The control module is designed to control the on-board system on the basis of the deduced property.

A driving consciousness estimation device includes a driving readiness estimation unit configured to estimate a driving readiness relating to a driving consciousness of the driver from a driver's reaction to the travelling environment, a driving task demand estimation unit configured to estimate a driving task demand which is an index required for the driver with respect to the driving readiness from the travelling environment, and an attention awakening unit configured to execute awakening of attention for the driver relating to the driving of the vehicle based on the result of comparison between the driving readiness and the driving task demand.

A vehicle safety system includes several image capturing units, an image processing unit, a control unit and a display unit, in which an environmental photography technique and a visual distance detection technique are integrated so as to detect a distance between a nearby object and the vehicle to warn the driver during moving or parking operation, and an automatic door detection technique is integrated to identify rear side objects prior to opening of a vehicle door so to prevent undesired accident from happening.

A vehicle camera protection and cleaning system is disclosed in which at least one wiper is positioned on an underside surface of a camera cover to clean a lens of a vehicle camera. In one embodiment, the system includes an inner ring fixedly attached to an underside surface of the cover, and a plurality of aperture members pivotally connected to the inner ring on one end and pivotally connected on another end to an outer gear that is movable relative to the inner gear, where at least one of the plurality of aperture members comprises a wiper configured to clean a lens of the camera when the aperture members are moved over the lens. In other embodiments, the wiper may be positioned on an underside surface of a cover of the camera that either rotates in a circular manner or translates over the lens of the camera.

A driver assistance system suitable for use in a vehicle includes a forward-viewing camera mounted at a front windshield of the vehicle, and an event recorder having an image processor and memory. Based at least in part on processing by the image processor of image data captured by the camera, a lane departure warning is generated if, when a turn signal of the vehicle is not activated, at least one of (i) the vehicle is heading towards a lane marking and (ii) the vehicle is within a certain distance of an edge of a lane marking for a certain time. Based at least in part on processing by the image processor of image data captured by the camera, a forward collision alert is generated if the vehicle is heading towards a given object with the separation between the vehicle and the given object being less than a threshold.

A method and system for determining a distance and direction between a video camera secured on a vehicle and a target point relies on an electronic control unit. The system maps and stores grid points representing a world coordinate grid onto a screen coordinate grid and displays the video image on a display using the screen coordinate grid. The system obtains a target point of an object in the video image and determines a locus of four closest grid points of the screen coordinate grid that encircle the target point. The system determines screen distances from the target point to each of the four grid points and maps the four grid points onto the world coordinate grid. The electronic control unit interpolates the location of the target point in the world coordinate grid as weighted by the screen distances. Using the video camera location in world coordinates and the target point location in world coordinates, the system determines a distance between the video camera and the target point.

An image display control apparatus includes an image generating portion generating a display image to be displayed on a display apparatus, the display image including a mirror image of a vehicle outside image based on at least a part of a captured image in which at least a rear side of a vehicle is captured, a reference image setting portion being capable of setting a reference image corresponding to a position that is away towards the rear side of the vehicle, the reference image being set as an image to be included in the display image while the vehicle is moving forward, and a display control portion controlling the display apparatus so that the display image is displayed.