A method for vehicle parking assistance during a parking maneuver of the vehicle includes detecting an obstacle in a detection space outside the vehicle. Successive measurements are taken of the distance or distances separating the vehicle and the obstacle and the position or positions of the obstacle relative to the vehicle. Depending on the results of the measurements, human speech voice messages are generated that provide parking assistance. The voice messages are broadcasted in the passenger compartment of the vehicle.

[OBJECT] To surely detect a target existing around a host vehicle when the vehicle is moved back.

[ORGANIZATION] A monitoring device that monitors a state around a vehicle includes: a transmitting/receiving part (other vehicle detecting parts 11a, 11b) that transmits an electromagnetic wave to receive a reflected wave from a target; a detecting part (arithmetic processing part 13) that detects the target existing in a rear area including an area directly behind the vehicle and the target existing in rear left and right sides of the vehicle, by referring to the reflected wave received from the target by the transmitting/receiving part; and a determining part (arithmetic processing part 13) that determines whether or not there is a possibility of contact or collision between the target detected by the detecting part and the vehicle.

The invention relates to an ultrasonic measuring system (10), in particular for measuring distance and/or as a parking aid in vehicles, having an electroacoustic ultrasonic transducer (12) which has a oscillating element (14), does not have a voltage converter, can be alternately operated as an ultrasonic transmitter and an ultrasonic receiver and has a signal connection (16), which is used either as an input or as an output of the ultrasonic transducer (12), and an earth connection (18) which is connected to earth, and a control and evaluation unit (20) for exciting the oscillating element (14) of the ultrasonic transducer (12) to emit ultrasonic waves for operating the ultrasonic transducer (12) during a transmission interval for the purpose of subsequently deactivating the excitation of the oscillating element (14) and attenuating the latter during a decay phase and for receiving and processing ultrasonic waves in a reception interval. The control and evaluation unit (20) has a bridge circuit (28) which is connected to a DC supply voltage (80) and has controllable switches (30 to 40) and a charge storage capacitance (42), the polarity of which can be reversed and which is intended to alternately output a positive and a negative excitation voltage for the signal connection (16) of the ultrasonic transducer (12) during the transmission interval. The control and evaluation unit (20) outputs a voltage pulse of substantially 0 V at the end of the transmission interval for the signal connection (16) of the ultrasonic transducer (12).

An ultra-short range radar (USRR) system of a vehicle includes an object detection module configured to, based on radar signals from USRR sensors of the vehicle: identify the presence of an object that is external to the vehicle; determine a location of the object; and determine at least one of a height, a length, and a width of the object. A remedial action module is configured to, based on the location of the object and the at least one dimension of the object, at least one of: selectively actuate an actuator of the vehicle; selectively generate an audible alert via at least one speaker of the vehicle; and selectively generate a visual alert via at least one light emitting device of the vehicle.

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are disclosed for determining a distance between a vehicle and a computing device during a remote parking operation. An example method includes receiving, by a computing device, a 3D model of a vehicle and vehicle inertial data. The method also includes capturing an image of the vehicle. The method further includes determining a distance between the computing device and the vehicle based on the image and the 3D model, and updating the distance based on the vehicle inertial data.

A method for vehicle parking assistance during a parking maneuver of the vehicle includes detecting an obstacle in a detection space outside the vehicle. Successive measurements are taken of the distance or distances separating the vehicle and the obstacle and the position or positions of the obstacle relative to the vehicle. Depending on the results of the measurements, human speech voice messages are generated that provide parking assistance. The voice messages are broadcasted in the passenger compartment of the vehicle.

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.

An ultrasonic sensor (10) includes a transmission and reception unit (11) for transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic wave, a holder (12) and an attachment (13) for fixing the transmission and reception unit (11) to the bumper (1) of a vehicle, and light source units (14a, 14b) mounted in a back side of the bumper (1). The holder (12) is shaped so as to be exposed on a surface of the bumper (1), and guides light beams emitted by the light source units (14a, 14b) to the surface of the bumper (1), to project the light beams from a light projecting surface (12a) to the outside of the vehicle.

An automatic control apparatus and a method of in-vehicle infotainment volume are proposed. The automatic control apparatus is configured to detect obstacle (people or object) around a vehicle using a parking assistance system sensor, and to adjust the playback volume of an in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) to be automatically reduced when an obstacle is detected around the vehicle, and to automatically adjust the playback volume of the IVI during not only reversing but also forward moving of the vehicle.

An image processing device according to an embodiment includes an image acquisition unit, an information acquisition unit, a generation unit, a composition unit, a determination unit, and a display control unit. The image acquisition unit acquires a captured image where an image of an environment of a vehicle is captured by an image-capturing device. The information acquisition unit acquires positional information regarding a detected position of an obstacle that exists in an environment of the vehicle. The generation unit generates a virtual viewpoint image where an environment of the vehicle is viewed from a virtual viewpoint, based on the captured image. The composition unit composites a notification image that provides notification of existence of the obstacle at the detected position with the virtual viewpoint image. The display control unit controls a display format of the notification image that is composited with the virtual viewpoint image, based on the positional information.