JP2002122669A - Object position detecting method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an object position detecting method rightly finding the position and the lateral width of an object, an existing range of the object, and the locus of the central position of the object, even if a part of the object goes off the detection angle. SOLUTION: The distance to the object existing in the detection angle, the direction, and the lateral width of the object are measured, a moving vector of the lateral position of the object for the distance and the direction of the object under the measurement is measured, the lateral width of the object under measurement is stored, and when it is determined that a part of the object under measurement goes off the detection angle, the position of the par being off the detection angle is interpolated based on the stored lateral width of the object and the moving vector of the lateral position of the object measured in the detection angle.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention uses a scanning radar to determine the distance to a road object, the existing lateral position,
The present invention relates to an object position detection method for measuring movement, width, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an object position detecting method for measuring an inter-vehicle distance in order to follow a preceding vehicle using a scanning radar has been disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-316275. Method "has been reported.

In this method, the distance to the preceding vehicle is measured while following the preceding vehicle by obtaining the observation vector of the preceding vehicle that is following and estimating the trajectories of a plurality of targets.

[0004]

Generally, a scanning laser radar mounted on a vehicle does not detect 360 degrees around the vehicle but scans within a limited detection angle in front of the vehicle. For this reason, when the distance to the object existing ahead is relatively long, detection can be performed in a wide range, but when the distance is short, the detection angle becomes narrow. For example, when approaching a vehicle diagonally ahead, as the inter-vehicle distance becomes shorter,
The outer part of the preceding vehicle comes out of the detection angle.

For this reason, in the conventional object position detecting method,
As shown in FIG. 12, as the distance from the front object (vehicle) decreases, a part of the front object deviates from the detection angle, so that the position and width of the object, the range where the object exists, and the center position of the object are determined. There was a problem that the trajectory could not be obtained correctly.

Further, the conventional object position detection method has a drawback that if a part of the preceding vehicle is within the detection angle, the existing position and the width of the part of the preceding vehicle within the detection angle cannot be obtained. Was.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of the above,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an object position detection method capable of correctly obtaining the position and width of an object, the range in which the object exists, and the locus of the center position of the object even when a part of the front object deviates from the detection angle. It is in.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In order to solve the above problem, an object position detection method for measuring a distance to an object existing in front of a vehicle while scanning a transmission wave in a traveling direction of the vehicle at a predetermined detection angle, wherein the object position exists within the detection angle Procedures for measuring the distance and orientation to the object and the width of the object, procedures for measuring the motion vector of the lateral position of the object from the distance and orientation to the object being measured, and procedures for storing the width of the object being measured , A procedure to determine whether a part of the object being measured has gone out of the detection angle, and a procedure in which a part of the object being measured has come out of the detection angle,
The gist of the present invention is to include a procedure for interpolating and calculating the position of a portion outside the detection angle based on the stored width of the object and the motion vector of the horizontal position of the object measured within the detection angle.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above-described problem, the step of performing the interpolation calculation includes, when the object is present at a shorter distance than a reference distance, the lateral width when the object is a vehicle. The gist is to obtain the position of a portion outside the detection angle as a reference.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, a step of determining whether the object under measurement is a vehicle is provided. If the part goes out of the detection angle, the position of the part outside the detection angle is interpolated and calculated based on the stored vehicle width and the motion vector of the lateral position of the vehicle measured within the detection angle. That is the gist.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the step of judging whether or not the object under measurement is a vehicle is performed based on a measurement result within a detection angle. A procedure for determining whether or not a reflection, based on the measurement result within the detection angle, a procedure for determining whether or not the front object is a vehicle from the distribution of the reflection intensity, and a position of the vehicle end from the distribution shape of the reflection intensity. And a procedure for obtaining a motion vector.

[0012]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the distance and azimuth to the object existing within the detection angle and the width of the object are measured, and the lateral position of the object is determined from the distance and azimuth to the object being measured. Is measured, and the width of the object being measured is stored.If it is determined that a part of the object being measured has gone out of the detection angle, the width of the stored object is stored. Based on the motion vector of the horizontal position of the object measured within the detection angle, the position of the part outside the detection angle is calculated by interpolation, so that even if a part of the object being tracked is outside the detection angle, The moving trajectory can be accurately obtained, and the position of the portion that is out of the detection angle can also be obtained. As a result, for example, when the vehicle approaches a place where cars are arranged irregularly, such as in front of a tollgate, even if there is a vehicle at a short distance such that the whole of the preceding vehicle does not fit within the detection angle, a collision with the preceding vehicle may occur. Will be able to determine a route that avoids the problem.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the object is located at a shorter distance than the reference distance, the position of the portion outside the detection angle is determined based on the width of the object when the object is a vehicle. Thus, even if the vehicle appears at a short distance that cannot be accommodated in the detection angle, the existence range can be obtained. As a result, for example, even in a situation where the lateral width of the object cannot be calculated using the method of claim 1 due to an interruption from the side or the like, the position of the vehicle can be obtained. For example, the detection angle of a general scanning laser radar is about 12 degrees, and in this case, the detection angle 10 m ahead is 2 m, and 4 m at 20 m. Therefore, considering a normal lane width, an object located below 20 m is It is considered that the detection angle is outside the detection angle even when the vehicle is on the same lane. In this way, the turning angle of the steering wheel when overtaking the preceding vehicle when the preceding vehicle is closer than the reference standard is set in a place where there is no vehicle in front. Can be determined in consideration of

According to the present invention, it is determined whether the object under measurement is a vehicle.
If a part of the vehicle under measurement goes out of the detection angle, the part outside the detection angle is determined based on the stored vehicle width and the motion vector of the lateral position of the vehicle measured within the detection angle. By interpolating and calculating the position, the position of the portion that is out of the detection angle is determined in consideration of the characteristics of the shape of the vehicle, so that the position of the vehicle can be determined more reliably. As a result, similarly to the first aspect, even when the preceding vehicle is at a short distance and the vehicle does not fall within the detection angle, it is possible to determine a traveling route that does not collide with the preceding vehicle. In addition, by judging the presence or absence of body reflection at a short distance, it becomes possible to distinguish between two motorcycles and one vehicle.

According to the present invention, it is determined whether or not the reflection from the reflector of the vehicle is based on the measurement result within the detection angle, and based on the measurement result within the detection angle,
By judging whether the object ahead is a vehicle from the distribution of the reflection intensity, and determining the position and the motion vector of the end of the vehicle from the distribution shape of the reflection intensity, it is determined whether the object being measured is a vehicle. Therefore, even when a part of the vehicle is out of the detection angle, the position of the vehicle and the trajectory of the vehicle can be correctly obtained. As a result, as in the case of the first and second aspects, a traveling route that does not collide with the preceding vehicle can be determined even when the preceding vehicle is at a short distance and the vehicle does not fall within the detection angle. Become like

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a basic configuration of an object position detecting device 11 to which the object position detecting method of the present invention can be applied.

The scanning laser radar 13 irradiates and emits a laser radar (transmitted wave) as a pulse signal while scanning at a predetermined detection angle in a one-dimensional direction perpendicular to the running direction ahead of the vehicle and parallel to the road surface. The laser radar receives a reflected wave reflected by an object existing in front of the vehicle and outputs a reception signal.

The distance / position / width measuring unit 15 propagates from the output of the laser radar to the incidence of a reflected wave by an object existing in front of the vehicle, based on the pulse signal emitted by the scanning laser radar 13 and the received signal. The delay time is detected, the distance to all the objects existing within the detection angle is measured, and the azimuth and the width are measured.

The follow-up determination unit 17 determines whether the object whose distance has been newly measured is the same as the object measured at the previous point in time while the distance / position / width measurement unit 15 measures the distance continuously in time. Judgment is made, and the judgment result is output to the motion measuring unit 19.

The motion measuring section 19 measures the motion vector of the object when the result of the judgment by the following section 17 is the same. That is, when the distance is continuously measured, the motion measuring unit 19 determines that the object whose distance and direction have been newly measured is the same object as the object measured at the previous time, and determines the horizontal position of the object. Measure the motion vector.

The width / motion storage unit 21 stores the width of the object determined to be continuously measured by the distance / position / width measurement unit 15 and the motion vector of the horizontal position of the object from the motion measurement unit 19.

The out-of-detection-object-position measuring unit 23 determines whether or not a part of the object being continuously measured has gone out of the detection angle, and a part of the object being continuously measured has come out of the detection angle. In this case, based on the motion vector of the horizontal position of the object and the width of the object measured within the detection angle, the position of the part outside the detection angle is calculated by interpolation, and the position of the object outside the detection angle and the position of the object are calculated. Output a motion vector.

Next, FIG. 2 is a side view (a) and a top view (b) showing a reference coordinate system for representing the mounting position of the scanning laser radar 13 and the position of the detection target vehicle with respect to the own vehicle.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the scanning laser radar 13 is mounted on the vehicle such that the center axis of the laser radar at the time of scanning is parallel to the straight traveling direction of the vehicle and the scanning surface is parallel to the road surface. It is attached.

The position of the object to be detected with respect to the own vehicle is defined as the scanning center point at the origin and the scanning laser radar 13 at the Z axis (representing the distance to the object).
, The X axis (representing the lateral position of the object) is a direction parallel to the scanning plane, and the Y axis is a direction perpendicular to the scanning plane.

(First Principle) First, the first principle relating to the object position detecting method will be described.

FIG. 3 shows a state of a measurement result obtained by the scanning laser radar 13 when the vehicle gradually approaches an object obliquely forward. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state in which the lateral width and the existence range of an object in front are measured from the detection result of the scanning laser radar 13.

The scanning laser radar 13 scans within a detection angle of, for example, about 12 degrees in a one-dimensional direction parallel to the road surface. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, when the distance to the front object is long, the object can be detected in a wide range, but when the distance is short, the detection angle becomes narrow. For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, when approaching a vehicle diagonally forward, as the inter-vehicle distance becomes shorter, the outer portion of the vehicle ahead of the Z-axis becomes out of the detection angle.

Therefore, according to the first principle, the follow-up determination unit 17
When it is determined that the object is following the same object, the motion measurement unit 1
9 is a part of the part where the measurement is continued within the detection angle based on the motion vector of the horizontal position of the object measured by the motion measurement unit 19 and the width of the object stored in the width / motion storage unit 21. By obtaining the trajectory, the trajectory and existence range of the portion outside the detection angle can also be obtained.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3 (b), if the width of the following vehicle is A (m) and the position of the left end of the vehicle within the detection angle is x1, the position xr of the right end being detected is: xr = x
It can be obtained by 1 + A. From these facts, the center position and the width of the object in front can also be correctly obtained.

As described above, when the own vehicle gradually approaches the object, the trajectory of the width of the object and the position of the object with respect to the own vehicle can be obtained from the detection result of the entire object as a detection angle at a long distance. it can.

Further, it can be determined that the vehicle whose distance is being measured is following the same object based on, for example, the lateral width of a temporal change in position of the vehicle and the continuity of movement of the vehicle.

(Second Principle) Next, a second principle relating to the object position detecting method will be described.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a state of a measurement result of the scanning laser radar 13 when the object ahead is a vehicle.

Generally, there is a high possibility that the obstacle ahead of the vehicle while traveling on the road is a vehicle. In particular, if the obstacle in front is a moving object, a falling object or the like is a stationary object, so the probability that the object is a vehicle is even higher.

Therefore, the object position measuring unit 23 outside the detection angle is used.
As described above, when judging whether or not a part of the object being continuously measured has gone out of the detection angle, the forward object is closer than the reference distance, and the motion measuring unit 19 When is a moving object, it is determined that the forward object is a vehicle having a high frequency of existence on the road, and it is determined that the object exists up to the width of a normal vehicle.

Thus, for example, as shown in FIG.
When the own vehicle takes a course diagonally ahead of the preceding vehicle, the position of the outer part of the detection angle of the preceding vehicle zp (m) ahead of the own vehicle is xr, and xr = x1 + A is obtained, and collision to that position is avoided. Can be determined.

(Third and Fourth Principles) Next, third and fourth principles relating to the object position detecting method will be described.

FIG. 7 shows that the vehicle traveling in front of the vehicle is
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the measurement results of the scanning laser radar 13 at each distance and the reflection intensity at that time when approaching from the longest distance measurable by the laser radar to immediately before the host vehicle. In a normal vehicle, the reflectors attached to the left and right have the highest reflection intensity, followed by the license plate, followed by the body reflection.

That is, as shown in FIG. 7 (b), when the inter-vehicle distance is long, the distance of only the reflection part from the reflector is measured. The distance to the reflection part can be measured.

The reflection intensity of the same part increases as the distance decreases. For example, the reflection intensity from the reflector decreases at a long distance but increases at a short distance.

At a short distance where the distance of the entire vehicle can be measured, as shown in FIG. 7B, a distribution having different intensities depending on the parts is observed. For example, the reflection intensity from the reflector is the strongest, The intensity distribution appears in the order of the license plate and finally the body surface.

Here, the fourth principle relating to the object position detecting method will be described.

Based on the measurement result within the detection angle from the distance / position / width measurement unit 15, it is determined whether or not the reflection is from the reflector of the vehicle, and based on the measurement result within the detection angle, the reflection intensity distribution is determined. It is determined whether the object ahead is a vehicle, and the position and movement of the vehicle end are determined from the distribution shape of the reflection intensity, thereby determining whether the object being measured is a vehicle. Thus, even when a part of the vehicle is out of the detection angle, the position of the vehicle and the trajectory of the vehicle can be correctly obtained.

As a result, even when the preceding vehicle is at a short distance and the vehicle does not fall within the detection angle, a traveling route that does not collide with the preceding vehicle can be determined.

Next, a third principle relating to the object position detecting method will be described.

When it is determined that the front object is a vehicle, for example, even when the reflection intensity at the end of the vehicle is low, it is considered that the end of the vehicle actually exists at that portion, so that the existence range of the vehicle can be increased. You will be able to make reliable decisions.

FIG. 8 shows the center position of the preceding vehicle obtained by using this principle. As shown in FIG. 8 (a), the center position of the vehicle is the position of the position sandwiched between the reflectors. It can be determined as an intermediate position.

In the case of a vehicle at a long distance z1, a short distance z
In the case of the vehicle 3, even if one of the vehicles is lost or out of the detection angle, whether the vehicle is in front as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG.
Whether it is located on the left side as shown in (d) can be determined from the intermediate position between the positions sandwiched between the reflectors.

As shown in FIG. 3, when approaching from the long distance z1 to the short distance z3, the object position measuring unit 23 outside the detection angle continuously and temporally stores the past width / motion storage unit 2.
By interpolating the center position of the vehicle obtained at the long distance z1 based on the motion vector of the lateral position of the preceding vehicle stored in No. 1, the center of the vehicle can be maintained even when a part of the vehicle is out of the detection angle. The position can be determined.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a basic configuration of an object position detecting device 51 to which an object position detecting method according to a first embodiment of the present invention can be applied.

As shown in FIG. 2, the object position detecting device 51 sets the central axis of the scanning laser radar so that the central axis of the scanning laser radar is parallel to the central axis of the vehicle and the lateral position is the same as the central axis of the vehicle. Mounted on

The scanning laser radar 53 irradiates and emits a laser radar (transmission wave) as a pulse signal while scanning at a predetermined detection angle in a one-dimensional direction perpendicular to the traveling direction ahead of the vehicle and parallel to the road surface. The laser radar receives a reflected wave reflected by an object existing in front of the vehicle and outputs a reception signal.

The control unit 55 includes a ROM that stores a control program, a RAM that stores control data, a CPU that executes processing according to the control program, and an A / A
An A / D converter for D-converting and outputting received data to the CPU is provided inside.

First, the processing operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. Note that this flowchart is stored as a control program in the above-described ROM.

First, in step S10, the control unit 55
Is based on the one pulse signal emitted by the scanning laser radar 53 and the received signal, and the A / D converter converts the effective received signal within a predetermined time width into one pulse signal from the emission timing of the one pulse signal. On the other hand, multiple sampling processes are performed to obtain multiple received data,
The reception data for one scan is collected while sequentially storing the plurality of reception data in the RAM for each irradiation angle that sequentially changes during the scan.

Then, a portion determined to be the same object in the received data for one scan stored in the RAM is subjected to grouping processing to detect the object, and its position and width are measured. In this grouping process, objects located at the same distance and moving in the same direction continuously in time are determined to be the same object.

Next, in step S20, the control unit 55 makes a determination as to follow the object, and measures a motion vector.
More specifically, as a result of the grouping process in step S10, as shown in FIG. 4B, the position of the object moves only a small distance temporally, and the motion vector measured during the grouping process is temporally continuous. You can judge from what you do.

Next, in step S30, step S2
At 0, when the position of the object determined to be following is located at the end of the scanning angle, it is determined whether or not the width of the following object is gradually reduced with respect to a change in the width of the object. Then, in step S30, when it is determined that the width of the following object is reduced, that is, when it is determined that a part of the object is out of the detection angle, the process proceeds to step S40, and FIG. As shown in b), the position outside the detection angle is interpolated by the object position measurement unit 23 outside the detection angle from the measurement information before that and the position of the part remaining within the detection angle.

In step S40, as an interpolation process by the control unit 55, as shown in FIG. 4B, for example, the width of the following vehicle is A (m), and the position of the left end of the vehicle within the detection angle is x1. If there is, the right end position xr during detection is obtained as xr = x1 + A.

Further, simultaneously with the interpolation of the outer position,
As shown in (b), the trajectory of the center position of the front object is also obtained as the center by setting the interpolated position as the right end position. This makes it possible to correctly obtain the trajectory even when a part of the detected object approaches the detection angle due to the approach of the object being detected.

Then, in step S50, the control unit 55
Calculates the distance, the lateral position, and the motion vector of the forward object with respect to the center position.

(Second Embodiment) An object position detecting method according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the basic configuration of an object position detecting device 51 shown in FIG. Further, in the present embodiment, the processing operation will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 10, as in the first embodiment.

First, a method for obtaining the position of the front object when the object ahead is a vehicle will be described.

In the above case, since the vehicle is gradually approaching from a long distance to a short distance, the trajectory and the lateral width of the vehicle can be obtained based on the result of the long distance measurement. But,
For example, if the distance at the first discovery of an object is short, such as an interruption during a traffic jam, and the position of the object is at the end of the detection angle,
Since the width of the object cannot be obtained, the position of the object outside the detection angle cannot be obtained.

However, when an object detected in front of a vehicle while traveling on a road is a moving object, the probability that the object is a vehicle is very high.

Therefore, for example, the width of a general vehicle is stored in the above-mentioned ROM using a well-known statistical method, and if an object is found at the end of the detection angle in step S30, the data is stored in the ROM. It is determined that an object having a vehicle width exists beside.

As in the first embodiment, the determination of the position in step S40 is based on the fact that the lateral width of the vehicle is A (m) and the position of the left end of the vehicle within the detection angle is x1, the position of the right end being detected is The position xr can be obtained by the following expression: xr = x1 + A.

Further, from the width of the reflector of the vehicle, etc.,
The characteristics of whether the width of the preceding vehicle is a large vehicle or a passenger vehicle may be statistically determined, and a vehicle width according to the strength may be applied.

Further, as shown in FIG. 11A, in the case of a short-distance vehicle, not only the measurement from the reflector but also the reflection from the body beside the reflector is possible. As shown in the figure, in the case of a moving object that has only a reflection from the reflector even though it is a short distance enough to reflect the body, it is determined that the object is a motorcycle and the vehicle width A
Is not added.

As shown in FIG. 11 (a), when there is a measured value of low intensity beside the reflector, it is determined that the vehicle is the vehicle, and the width A of the front object is more accurately determined by adding the vehicle width A. , The existence position can also be obtained.

Next, a description will be given of a method of obtaining the position of the vehicle when it is determined that the object detected ahead is a vehicle.

As shown in FIG. 7B, when a vehicle is detected ahead, the reflector is detected as a portion having the highest intensity. Usually, the reflector of a passenger car is often located slightly inside rather than at the end of the vehicle. Due to such a feature of the vehicle shape, for example, at a long distance where the vehicle ahead is as wide as a passenger car and only the strength of the reflector can be detected, an object exists slightly outside the reflector. In the case of a short distance, since there is also a body reflection, the reflection intensity is weak, and the part up to the same movement as the vehicle is determined as the vehicle end.

With such a determination, the actual existence range of the vehicle can be obtained. If the part is outside the detection angle, the shape of the part existing within the detection angle may be taken into consideration, such as the fact that the vehicle is usually symmetrical, and the actual existence range may be within the detection angle. Can be obtained from the characteristic existence position of the shape.

Next, a method of obtaining the position and the movement of the preceding vehicle based on the intensity distribution measured by the scanning laser radar 53 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 7, when a vehicle ahead is detected, a measurement result with a distribution of reflection intensity according to the distance is obtained. From this, as shown in FIG. 8, the position of the vehicle can be obtained based on the shape of the intensity distribution.

For example, as shown in FIG. 8, the intensity of the intensity distribution at the time of vehicle detection and the longest distance (z
1) The distance (x2) at which the reflection intensity of the license plate can be detected is constant depending on the characteristics of each scanning laser radar 53, and can be checked in advance by actually measuring.

Therefore, the intensity distribution characteristics of the laser radar and the distances x1, x2, x3 of the laser radar at the time of measurement of the vehicle ahead are examined, and the position of the vehicle ahead is determined from the position where the intensity distribution appears and the movement of the entire distribution. Can be

Even when the entire vehicle does not fall within the detection angle at a short distance, the position of the reflector, the position of the license plate, and the like are determined as shown in FIG. Can be.

Further, as shown in FIG. 11B, when an object traveling forward is detected, the distance is a short distance (x3) at which body reflection can be measured. When only the reflection intensity from the reflector can be obtained, the type of the forward object can be determined, for example, by determining that the object is not a vehicle but a motorcycle.

In the above description, the scanning range of the scanning laser radar is set in the one-dimensional direction, but the same effect can be obtained even in the two-dimensional direction.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a basic configuration of an object position detection device 11 to which an object position detection method of the present invention can be applied.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are a side view and a top view showing a reference coordinate system for indicating a mounting position of a scanning laser radar and a position of a detection target vehicle with respect to a host vehicle;

FIG. 3A is a diagram illustrating a state of a measurement result obtained by the scanning laser radar 13 when the vehicle gradually approaches an object located diagonally forward in a long distance, and FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating a state of interpolating an outer position ( b).

FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating a state in which the motion of a forward object and the size of the object are determined from the detection result of the scanning laser radar, and FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating a method of calculating a position outside the detection angle. is there.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing characteristics of detection results of the scanning laser radar 13 when a vehicle is ahead.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a route of the own vehicle when a vehicle exists diagonally forward;

FIG. 7A is a diagram showing measurement results of the scanning laser radar 13 at each distance when the preceding vehicle approaches from the longest distance measurable by the laser radar to immediately before the own vehicle, and the reflection at that time. FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating a distribution of intensity.

FIG. 8A is a diagram showing the intensity distribution of a vehicle in front at a long distance front, and FIG. 8B is a diagram showing the intensity distribution at a short distance front.
It is a figure (c) which shows the intensity distribution at the short distance right front diagonal, and is a figure (d) which shows the intensity distribution at the short distance left front diagonal.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a basic configuration of an object position detection device 51 to which the object position detection method according to the first embodiment of the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining a basic operation of the object position detection device 51 to which the object position detection method according to the first embodiment of the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining a method of determining a vehicle (a) and a motorcycle (b) in front of a short distance.

FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining a conventional object position detection method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11, 51 Vehicle position detecting device 13, 53 Scanning laser radar 15 Distance / position / width measurement unit 17 Tracking determination unit 19 Motion measurement unit 21 Width / motion storage unit 23 Object position measurement unit outside detection angle 55 Control unit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An object position detecting method for measuring a distance to an object existing in front of a vehicle while scanning a transmission wave at a predetermined detection angle in a traveling direction of the vehicle, the method comprising: Measuring the distance and azimuth of the object and the width of the object, measuring the lateral position of the object from the distance and azimuth to the object being measured, storing the width of the object being measured, and measuring The procedure to determine whether part of the object inside is out of the detection angle.If the part of the object being measured goes out of the detection angle, the stored width of the object and the detection Interpolating and calculating the position of the portion outside the detection angle based on the motion vector of the horizontal position of the object measured within the angle. 2. The step of performing the interpolation calculation includes, when the object is present at a shorter distance than a reference distance, determining a position of a portion outside the detection angle with reference to a width when the object is a vehicle. The method according to claim 1, wherein the object position is detected. 3. A step of determining whether or not the object under measurement is a vehicle, wherein the step of performing the interpolation calculation includes storing when a part of the vehicle under measurement goes out of the detection angle. 2. The object position detection according to claim 1, wherein the position of a portion outside the detection angle is interpolated and calculated based on the width of the vehicle and the motion vector of the lateral position of the vehicle measured within the detection angle. Method. 4. A step of determining whether or not the object being measured is a vehicle is a step of determining whether or not reflection is from a reflector of the vehicle based on a measurement result within a detection angle; Based on the measurement result, there is a step of determining whether or not the front object is a vehicle from the distribution of the reflection intensity, and a step of obtaining a position and a motion vector of the vehicle end from the distribution shape of the reflection intensity. An object position detection method according to claim 3.