An apparatus includes a camera lens assembly and a printed circuit board attached to said camera lens assembly. The camera lens assembly may be configured to provide a forward view through a windshield of a vehicle. The printed circuit board generally comprises an antenna, a ground plane, and an image sensor. The antenna is generally disposed on a front surface of the printed circuit board. The ground plane may be disposed either on the front surface or within a layer of the printed circuit board. The image sensor is generally mounted on a back surface of the printed circuit board. The camera lens assembly is generally configured to focus an image of the forward view through the windshield on the image sensor.

An environmental condition outside of a vehicle can be detected via a camera or sensor. A notification of the environmental condition can be sent to a remote device via a telematics system. A command can be received from the remote device in response to the notification via the telematics system, wherein the command is related to a vehicle system of the vehicle. The command can be communicated to the vehicle system to cause a preconditioning of the vehicle.

An on-board device, that outputs a control signal to a cleaning control unit that controls accumulation removing units used to remove accumulations settled on a photographic lens in an on-board camera by adopting a plurality of methods, includes: an accumulation detection unit that detects an accumulation settled on the photographic lens from a photographic image output from the on-board camera when a vehicle speed input thereto is equal to or higher than a predetermined vehicle speed; a selection unit that selects an accumulation removing unit adopting a first method among the accumulation removing units adopting the plurality of methods; and a removal decision unit that makes a decision, based upon the photographic image, as to whether or not the accumulation has been removed from the photographic lens through a removal operation performed by the accumulation removing unit adopting the first method, which has been selected by the selection unit, wherein: if the removal decision unit decides that the accumulation has not been removed from the photographic lens, the selection unit selects an accumulation removing unit adopting a second method, different from the accumulation removing unit adopting the first method, based upon a number of times that the removal operation has been performed by engaging the accumulation removing unit adopting the first method.

A vision system for a vehicle includes a driver-side exterior mirror assembly having a driver-side camera for capturing driver-side image data and a passenger-side exterior mirror assembly having a passenger-side camera for capturing passenger-side image data. A video display disposed at the vehicle displays video images derived from image data captured by the driver-side and passenger-side cameras. The video display includes a driver-side display portion and a passenger-side display portion. The driver-side display portion of the video display displays video images derived from driver-side image data captured by the driver-side camera and does not display video images derived from any passenger-side image data captured by the passenger-side camera. The passenger-side display portion of the video display displays video images derived from passenger-side image data captured by the passenger-side camera and does not display video images derived from any driver-side image data captured by the driver-side camera.

A motor vehicle windshield wiper system includes a windshield wiper and a controller. The controller is configured, in response to a threat of freezing precipitation, to park the windshield wiper in a parked position with a first end of the windshield wiper oriented toward a top edge of the windshield and a second end of the windshield wiper oriented toward a bottom edge of the windshield. A related method of minimizing ice and snow buildup on a windshield wiper is also disclosed.

An object detection apparatus includes a light illumination unit that emits illuminating light; an imaging unit that captures a first image of distant photographic subjects by detecting lights from the photographic subjects, captures a second image of foreign matter attached to a monitoring area by detecting the illuminating light reflected from the foreign matter, and generates an image frame; a target detection unit that detects a detection target among the distant photographic subjects based on the first image; a foreign matter detection unit that detects the foreign matter based on the second image; and an exposure amount change unit that changes an exposure amount of the imaging unit. The target detection unit detects the detection target using plural imaging frames with different exposure amounts. The foreign matter detection unit detects the foreign matter using the imaging frame other than the imaging frame with the greatest exposure amount.

A vehicle is disclosed that uses data from different types of on-board sensors to determine whether meteorological precipitation is failing near the vehicle. The vehicle may include an on-board camera capturing image data and an on-board accelerometer capturing accelerometer data. The image data may characterize an area in front of or behind the vehicle. The accelerometer data may characterize vibrations of a windshield of the vehicle. An artificial neural network may run on computer hardware carried on-board the vehicle. The artificial neural network may be trained to classify meteorological precipitation in an environment of the vehicle using the image data and the accelerometer data as inputs. The classifications of the artificial neural network may be used to control one or more functions of the vehicle such as windshield-wiper speed, traction-control settings, or the like.

Automatic wiper control prohibiting means prohibits execution of automatic wiper control when vehicle stop detecting means detects that a vehicle is stopping and a masking object detecting part determines that a masking object is adhered to an outer surface of a window part. When the vehicle stop detecting means detects that the vehicle is stopping and a state of the masking object detecting part is changed from a state where the masking object detecting part detects that the masking object is adhered to the outer surface of the window part to a state where the masking object detecting part detects that the masking object is not adhered to the outer surface of the window part at a changing time, the automatic wiper control prohibiting means prohibits the execution of said automatic wiper control for a predetermined period of time from the changing time.

A vehicle having a windshield, a wiper and a vehicle camera is disclosed. The wiper may be configured to clean the windshield and the vehicle camera may be configured to capture a windshield image and a ground image. The vehicle may further include a processor that may obtain the windshield image and the ground image from the vehicle camera at a predefined sampling frequency. The processor may determine that the windshield and ground may be wet based on the windshield image and the ground image. The processor may actuate the wiper at a predefined speed based on a determination that both the windshield and the ground may be wet.

A wiper is controlled to sweep a surface area, e.g., a portion of a windshield, in front of a camera, e.g., a camera mounted inside a vehicle. An image captured from the camera after the wiper completes, e.g., immediately completes, the sweep of the surface area in front of the camera is used in generating a depth map. In some embodiments a first wiper is controlled to clear a surface area in front of a first camera while a second wiper is controlled to clear a surface area in front of second camera at the same time, and the first and second cameras are synchronized to initiate image capture at the same time, capturing images through recently cleared area, and the captured images are used to generate a depth map. A vehicle control operation, e.g., a direction, braking or speed control operation is performed based on the depth map.