JPH06230132A - Obstacle detector for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To indicate the position and direction of an obstacle without requiring the substantial shift of line of sight of a driver. CONSTITUTION:The driver's eye ball irradiated with infrared illumination light is imaged by an infrared camera 14, and based on the picture, line of sight is detected, and then on a front windshield 14, driver's observation area V is set. Using an infrared radar head, the position and direction of an obstacle B around a car is detected, and between the position/direction of the obstacle B and the center C of the observance area, a warning mark M is displayed by a head-up display. Since the warning mark M is displayed near the line of sight of the driver, the appearance of the obstacle is surely known. As the direction of the obstacle is also indicated by the direction toward which the warning mark M is displayed, from the center C of the observance area, the obstacle is easily confirmed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an obstacle detecting device for a vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional vehicle obstacle detection device,
For example, there is one as described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 3-71950. In this device, an infrared detector is attached at an arbitrary position around the vehicle, for example, on the side surface of the vehicle body, and when a person approaches the vehicle body, a warning is issued to notify the person inside or outside the vehicle of this. Sounds, figures, characters, colors, etc. are used as warning means.

[0003]

However, in such a conventional vehicle obstacle detecting device, there is a possibility that the warning may be overlooked when the environmental noise is large, especially when the warning is only sound. Also, when warnings such as figures, characters, colors, etc. are given on the screen display of, for example, a CRT or the like, from the front of the vehicle where attention should be focused and observation must be continued in order to see the screen display. This may lead to the inconvenience of having to move the line of sight in a direction far apart.

The detection area of the infrared detector installed in the vehicle is fixed, and the same detection output is emitted regardless of where the obstacle is in the detection area of the infrared detector. Therefore, if an obstacle enters the detection area, its existence can be recognized, but there is a problem that the specific position of the obstacle cannot be specified. Similarly, no matter where the obstacle is in the detection area of the infrared detector, a uniform warning is issued regardless of the position of the obstacle, so that there is a problem that the level of the obstacle caused by the obstacle cannot be recognized.

Therefore, in view of the above conventional problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an obstacle detection device for a vehicle capable of indicating the presence of an obstacle to a driver without requiring the driver's line of sight to be significantly moved. And A further object of the present invention is to provide an obstacle detection device for a vehicle, which can identify whether the obstacle is in the driver's line-of-sight direction or in another direction and can easily confirm the obstacle.

[0006]

Therefore, the present invention according to claim 1 is an obstacle detecting means for detecting an obstacle around a vehicle, a line-of-sight direction detecting means for detecting a line-of-sight direction of a driver, and A display means is provided near the driver's line-of-sight direction detected by the line-of-sight direction detection means to display the presence of the obstacle detected by the obstacle detection means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the obstacle detecting means for detecting the position direction of the obstacle around the vehicle, the line-of-sight direction detecting means for detecting the line-of-sight direction of the driver, and the obstacle detecting means for detecting are detected. Display means for displaying the presence of the obstacle is provided between the position direction of the obstacle and the line-of-sight direction of the driver detected by the line-of-sight direction detecting means.

Further, according to the invention of claim 3, the obstacle detecting means for detecting the position direction of the obstacle around the vehicle, the visual line direction detecting means for detecting the visual line direction of the driver, and the obstacle detecting means are provided. Alarm means for issuing an alarm when an obstacle is detected, and a position direction of the obstacle detected by the obstacle detecting means is separated from the driver's line-of-sight direction detected by the line-of-sight direction detecting means by a predetermined amount. And an alarm adjusting means for emphasizing and outputting the alarm.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the line-of-sight direction detecting means for detecting the line-of-sight direction of the driver is provided, and the display means for displaying the presence of the obstacle in the vicinity of the line-of-sight direction of the driver is provided. Even if the line of sight is directed to the direction required for driving, when an obstacle appears, that fact is displayed near the line of sight of the driver, and the alarm can be surely received.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the obstacle detecting means detects the position direction of the obstacle, and the display means displays a display indicating the existence of the obstacle between the position direction of the obstacle and the line-of-sight direction of the driver. As a result, the presence of the obstacle is notified and the direction in which the obstacle is present is indicated.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided alarm means for issuing an alarm when an obstacle is detected, and the alarm is emphasized when the position direction of the obstacle is separated from the driver's line-of-sight direction by a predetermined amount. Since the alarm adjusting means for outputting the signal is provided, a particularly emphasized alarm is issued when an obstacle is detected in a region outside the line of sight of the driver, and the driver's attention is called.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment.
An infrared radar head 1 including an optical system 1a that collects infrared rays from a predetermined direction and an infrared detection element 1b that detects the amount of the infrared rays is provided toward the front of the vehicle. InSb, HgCdTe, or the like is used as the infrared detection element 1b. The infrared detection element 1b is formed as an area array and outputs infrared information as a two-dimensional image in which the image formation position of the collected infrared rays is specified. The output of the infrared radar head 1 is input to the obstacle detection unit 3 via the A / D converter 2, and the obstacle detection processing is performed here.

In the vehicle compartment, an infrared illumination light 4 for emitting infrared light outside the visible range for illuminating the vicinity of the driver's face is provided, and an infrared camera 5 for observing the driver's face is also provided. The infrared illumination light 4 and the infrared camera 5 are controlled by the controller 6, and the output signal of the infrared camera 5 taken at a predetermined timing is A / D.
It is input through the converter 7 to the line-of-sight direction detection unit 8 which detects the line-of-sight direction of the driver.

A head position sensor 9 using ultrasonic waves or infrared rays is attached to the ceiling of the passenger compartment,
The position information of the driver's head is input to the observation area setting unit 10. Based on the head position of the driver and the line-of-sight direction detected by the line-of-sight direction detection unit 8, the observation area setting unit 10 identifies the observation area of the driver, and the output thereof is input to the display position setting unit 11.

In the display position setting section 11, the obstacle detecting section 3
Based on the obstacle information from the observation area setting unit 10 and the observation area information from the observation area setting unit 10.
The display position of D) is determined, and a control signal is output to the head-up display unit 12 installed near the front windshield.

The head-up display section 12
The HUD warning mark is displayed on the front windshield. This HUD is a virtual image display. The head-up display unit 12 includes a plurality of display units. As shown in FIG. 2, the display unit 13a is displayed in the vehicle center of the instrument panel 15, and the display units 13b and 13c are spaced about 35 cm from the center to the left and right for further display. The units 13d and 13e are arranged at a distance of 70 cm from the center to the left and right. Each of these display units projects from an opening 15a formed on the upper surface of the instrument panel toward the front windshield 14.

In the present embodiment, the infrared illumination light 4 and the infrared camera 5 are installed on the instrument panel 15 of the vehicle as shown in the layout view of the driver of FIG. 3 so as to face the driver's face. There is. FIG. 3 also shows the concept of the HUD alarm mark M displayed on the observation area V and the front windshield 14 described above.

Regarding the measurement of the line-of-sight direction, a method of detecting the line-of-sight direction from the Purkinje image whose principle is shown in FIG. 4 is generally known, and this method is particularly "characteristic for non-contact line-of-sight detection". Point extraction method "(Bano, et al., IEICE Technical Report 88-73).

Next, the operation in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
The flowchart will be described. First, step 10
At 1, the driver's eyeball is photographed. Here, under the control of the controller 6, the infrared illumination light 4 emits invisible infrared light toward the driver's face while the driver is driving the vehicle.
Take a picture of the driver's eye. The image signal is sent to the line-of-sight direction detection unit 8 via the A / D converter 7.

In step 102, the line-of-sight direction detecting section 8 detects a corneal reflection image from the image signal from the infrared camera 5. This is a Purkinje image in which infrared light from the infrared illumination light 4 is reflected on the cornea of the eyeball and observed.
As shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, it is detected by extracting the bright portion of the eyeball image.

Subsequently, in step 103, the pupil is similarly detected by the line-of-sight direction detecting section 8. Here, FIG.
As shown in (a) and (c), the pupil is detected by extracting the dark portion of the eyeball image. Then, in step 104, the corneal reflection image and the position of the center of gravity of the pupil are computer-calculated, and the driver's line-of-sight direction is detected from the positional relationship plotted as shown in FIG.

In step 105, the head position sensor 9 detects the position of the driver's head. In step 106, the observation area setting unit 10 determines the absolute line of sight of the driver based on the driver's line-of-sight direction detected in step 104 and the head position detected in the previous step. Then, the portion where the absolute line of sight intersects on the front windshield of the vehicle is specified as the driver's observation area V (see FIG. 3). The line-of-sight direction of the absolute line-of-sight whose measurement is confirmed is (a, b, c).

When the driver's observation area is specified, the observation area setting unit 10 sets the line-of-sight direction (a,
b, c) is determined in which position in the obstacle detection area corresponding to the infrared detecting element 1b. this is,
A correspondence table of the line-of-sight direction (a, b, c) and the obstacle detection area on the infrared detection element is set in advance, and the correspondence table is referred to in the measured line-of-sight direction (a, b, c). Be done. The correspondence table shows that the line-of-sight direction (ai, bi, ci) corresponds to the (i, j) point of L (x, y), for example. The correspondence table can be created if the layout of the system is known. In this way, the predetermined range including the point in the line-of-sight direction specified within the obstacle detection area is set as the observation area V, and when the alarm mark M described later is displayed, the display of the head-up display closest to this observation area V is displayed. Unit 13 is selected.

On the other hand, in step 107, the infrared information from the infrared radar head 1 around the front of the vehicle is A / D.
It is input to the obstacle detection unit 3 via the converter 2. In the infrared radar head 1, the incident infrared rays are collected and focused on the infrared detection element 1b, and a two-dimensional image signal is output as infrared information. That is, the infrared detection element 1b
The signal from is A / D converted by the A / D converter 2,
Obstacle detecting unit 3 as digital image signal L (x, y)
Entered in. Here, x = 0, 1, ..., M, y =
The obstacle detection area is covered as 0, 1, ... N.

In step 108, the obstacle detecting section 3 processes the infrared information inputted as the digital image signal L (x, y) to detect the obstacle.
Here, the target object is identified by extracting from the image signal L (x, y) only a region corresponding to the vicinity of a predetermined temperature peculiar to the detection target object. Then, when this is extracted as a lump having a certain area or more, it is determined that an obstacle exists ahead.

That is, assuming that the temperature data peculiar to the object to be detected corresponds to a value Th on L (x, y), in this case, Th-p <L (x, y) <Th + p. Areas within the zone are extracted. However, p is a constant. Note that Th generally has a larger value as the temperature rises. When L (x, y) is in the zone, the obstacle detection result J (x, y) = 1. As a result, J
When the point of (x, y) = 1 is detected as a lump having a certain area or more, it is determined that an obstacle exists in front.

In step 109, the detection result of the obstacle is checked, and if the obstacle is detected, the process proceeds to step 110. In step 110, the display position setting unit 11 selects the display unit closest to the observation area among the display units 13a to 13e of the head-up display 12 based on the observation area V of the driver identified in step 106. A control signal is output to the display unit.

Then, in step 111, by the selected head-up display display unit 13, as shown in FIG. 7, the head-up display display unit 13 is positioned at a position 3 ° to 5 ° downward from the center C of the driver's observation area V. , The virtual image of the alarm mark M is displayed on the head-up display. In this example, the case where the pedestrian BP is detected as an obstacle is shown. If no obstacle is detected in the check in step 109, the process returns to step 101 and the above flow is repeated.

This embodiment is constructed as described above, and the driver's line-of-sight direction is detected by image processing to obtain the driver's observation area V on the front windshield 14, and when an obstacle is detected, the observation area is detected. Since the alarm mark M is shown in the virtual image display of the head-up display in the vicinity of V, the driver can concentrate on driving without requiring a large movement of the line of sight, and when an obstacle appears, the driver can be near the line of sight of the driver. A message to that effect is displayed, and the alarm can be reliably received.

Since a plurality of display units of the head-up display 12 are installed over substantially the entire widthwise direction of the instrument panel 15, no matter which direction the driver's observation area, that is, the line of sight, is, it corresponds to this. A warning mark is displayed near it, and a stable warning is always secured.

Although the infrared detecting element 1b in the above embodiment is an area array, a single element or a linear array can be used as the infrared detecting element. In these cases, a plane mirror is used for the optical system. Two-dimensional image information can be obtained by using this together with a scanner mechanism that combines a polygon mirror and the like.

Further, when the infrared radar head is swept or swung, or a plurality of infrared radar heads are installed, the position direction of the obstacle can be specified in the obstacle detecting section. A display example of the alarm mark in this case is shown in FIG. 8 as a second embodiment. In the previous embodiment, the warning mark M is displayed below the driver's observation area V, whereas here the center C of the observation area V specified by the observation area setting unit and the obstacle detection unit are detected. On the line connecting the position direction of the obstacle B, the HUD warning mark M is displayed near a point 3 ° to 5 ° apart from the center C of the driver's observation area V.

According to this, not only the presence of the obstacle is informed, but also the direction in which the obstacle B exists is displayed depending on which direction the alarm mark M is displayed from the center C of the observation area. Therefore, there is an effect that the obstacle can be easily confirmed.

FIG. 9 shows a third embodiment. Here, the warning mark M ′ is displayed below the center C of the driver's observation area V as in the first embodiment, but the warning mark M ′ is in the position direction of the obstacle B detected by the obstacle detection unit. Is displayed as an arrow. Also in this embodiment, the driver can concentrate on driving without requiring a large movement of his or her line of sight, and when an obstacle appears, the direction in which the obstacle is present is displayed near the driver's line of sight. The obstacle can be received and the obstacle can be easily confirmed.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a fourth embodiment of the present invention. An obstacle irradiation device 20 is added to the same configuration as in FIG. The obstacle detection unit 3 ′ sends obstacle information to the display position setting unit 11 and outputs a control signal to the obstacle irradiation device 20. The obstacle irradiation device 20 receives the control signal from the obstacle detection unit 3 ′ and irradiates the obstacle detection unit 3 ′ in the direction of the obstacle detected. As the obstacle irradiation device 20, a plurality of irradiation lamps installed on the outer periphery of the vehicle with different irradiation directions are selected and turned on, or an obstacle lamp or headlight whose optical axis is variable is also used. can do. The other structure is the same as that of the first embodiment.

According to this embodiment, an alarm mark is displayed near the driver's line of sight to give a reliable alarm, and the obstacle is illuminated, so that the obstacle can be more easily confirmed. Of course, the display by the head-up display can be effectively applied to the case of the second or third embodiment, and the same effect can be obtained.

In each of the above embodiments, one infrared camera is used, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a plurality of infrared cameras are installed, and the line of sight detection is performed using the signal of the image in which the driver's eye is detected most greatly. The accuracy can be increased, or the shooting direction of the infrared camera can be changed so as to always follow the eyeball portion of the driver.

As a display method of the head-up display, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-5288, a hologram recording section sandwiched in the front windshield is irradiated with a scanned laser beam. Thus, any image can be displayed as an alarm mark.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the fifth embodiment. The infrared radar head 1 is provided toward the front of the vehicle, and infrared information as a two-dimensional image that identifies the image formation position of the collected infrared light is transmitted from the infrared radar head 1 to A
It is input to the obstacle detection unit 3 ″ via the / D converter 2.
An infrared illumination light 4 that illuminates the vicinity of the driver's face, an infrared camera 5, and a controller 6 that controls these are installed in the vehicle compartment. The output signal of the infrared camera 5 is input to the line-of-sight direction detection unit 8 that detects the line-of-sight direction of the driver via the A / D converter 7.

Further, a head position sensor 9 is provided, and position information of the driver's head is input to the observation area setting unit 10. The observation area setting unit 10 specifies the observation area of the driver based on the head position of the driver and the line-of-sight direction detected by the line-of-sight direction detection unit 8. The above configuration is the first
Is the same as the embodiment described above. The output of the observation area setting unit 10 is input to the obstacle detection unit 3 ″. Then, the obstacle detection unit 3 ″ receives the control signal from the alarm output unit 25.
Are connected.

Infrared rays entering from the front of the vehicle are transmitted by the optical system 1.
The light is focused by a, forms an image on the infrared detecting element 1b, and the infrared radar head 1 outputs a two-dimensional image signal.
This output is A / D converted by the A / D converter 2 and input to the obstacle detection unit 3 ″ as infrared information consisting of the digital image signal L (x, y).

In the observation area setting section 10, as in the first embodiment, the visual line direction of the absolute line of sight obtained from the image of the infrared camera 5 and the head position information of the driver from the head position sensor 9. And the matching table of the obstacle detection area by the image of the infrared radar head 1 is performed, and the line-of-sight direction (a, b, c) is within the obstacle detection area corresponding to the infrared detection element of the infrared radar head. Which position is to be determined.

The obstacle detection unit 3 "detects an obstacle based on the infrared information from the infrared radar head 1 and the output from the observation area setting unit 10, and the relationship between the detected obstacle and the observation area. Is calculated, and a control signal is output to the alarm output unit 25 based on this.

12 shows the flow of calculation processing in the obstacle detection unit 3 ". Here, the line-of-sight direction (a, b,
Area data R (x, y) having a predetermined radius r centered on the point (x, y) in the obstacle detection area obtained from c) is set. Then, as shown in FIG. 13, R (x, y) is set in an area corresponding to the line-of-sight direction of the driver, that is, in the observation area.
= 0, and R (x, y) = 1 is set in the other areas.

First, in step 201, after the initial position of image data scanning is set, step 202
Then, it is checked whether L (x, y) is within a predetermined range. That is, assuming that the temperature data specific to the detection target corresponds to the value Th on L (x, y), the predetermined range is Th-p <L (x, y) <Th + p. . p is a constant.

When L (x, y) is within the above predetermined range, the routine proceeds to step 203, where the obstacle detection result J (x, y).
y) = 1. After this, in step 204, J
The point determined to be (x, y) = 1 is further compared with R (x, y). Here, if R (x, y) = 1, it is determined that the obstacle is out of the line of sight of the driver, the process proceeds to step 205, and J (x, y) = 10 is changed. When J (x, y) = 10 occurs, step 206
In the alarm output unit 2, the control signal of "alarm level enhancement" is displayed.
After being output for 5, the process proceeds to step 208. On the other hand, in the check at step 204, R (x, y)
When = 0, it is determined that the obstacle is on the line of sight of the driver, that is, in the observation area, and the value of J (x, y) is held at 1, and in step 207, the control signal of "alarm level normal" is set. Is output to the alarm output unit 25, the process proceeds to step 208.

After that, in step 208, it is checked whether or not all the obstacle detection areas have been checked, and if not checked, the flow returns to step 202 to proceed to the next L (x, y) check. . Step 202
If L (x, y) is not within the above-mentioned predetermined range in the check of No., J (x, y) = 0 is set in step 209, and the process similarly proceeds to step 208 to move to the next check of L (x, y). .

As a result of checking each L (x, y) in the obstacle detection area by the above flow, the point of J (x, y) = 1 or J (x, y) = 10 is a predetermined constant area. When detected as the above lumps, it is determined that an obstacle exists ahead.

When the detection target is a human being, for example, the surface temperature of the skin is the ambient temperature 21
It is said to be about 32 ° C under ° C. Therefore, if only the region corresponding to the vicinity of 32 ° C. is extracted from the image signal L (x, y), the person is identified and detected. Therefore, Th used in the predetermined range in step 202 of the above-mentioned flow may be a value corresponding to the temperature of 32 ° C. Generally, the value of Th becomes larger as the temperature becomes higher. And J (x, y)
If a point of = 1 or J (x, y) = 10 is detected as a lump having a certain area or more, it is determined that a person is ahead.

As described above, the obstacle detection unit 3 "outputs a control signal to the alarm output unit 25 so as to issue a normal alarm when only the cluster of J (x, y) = 1 is detected. If even one lump of J (x, y) = 10 is detected, a control signal is output to the alarm output unit 25 so as to issue an alarm with a higher level than usual. To do.

The alarm here may be an alarm mark by a head-up display or a voice as in the above-mentioned embodiments. When the warning mark is used, the size of the display is enlarged or the display color is changed to emphasize. When using voice, the volume and pitch can be changed to emphasize the sound.

This embodiment is constructed as described above, and an area outside the line of sight of the driver is set, and when an obstacle is detected in that area, the alarm level is particularly strengthened. Therefore, the detected obstacle is detected. The driver's attention can be effectively called to confirm.

In each of the above embodiments, the infrared radar head is provided toward the front of the vehicle to detect an obstacle in front of the vehicle. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the radar head may be installed at the rear of the vehicle. The present invention is also applied to a device that is provided toward the vehicle or toward the side to detect an obstacle behind or on the side of the vehicle. In this case, the display on the head-up display is displayed on the rear window glass or the like. Further, as the radar head for detecting the obstacle, besides the one using infrared rays, a radar head using electromagnetic waves or ultrasonic waves is appropriately selected.

[0054]

As described above, according to the present invention, the obstacle detecting means for detecting obstacles around the vehicle, the visual line direction detecting means for detecting the visual line direction of the driver, and the display showing the presence of the detected obstacle. The display means for displaying in the vicinity of the driver's line-of-sight direction detected by the line-of-sight direction detection means is provided, so that the driver can concentrate on driving without requiring a large movement of the line-of-sight and when an obstacle appears. Is displayed near the driver's line of sight, and has an effect that a warning can be surely received.

Further, when the obstacle detecting means detects the position direction of the obstacle and the display means displays a display indicating the existence of the obstacle between the position direction of the obstacle and the line-of-sight direction of the driver. Since the direction in which the obstacle exists can be known, there is an effect that the obstacle can be easily confirmed. Furthermore, when an alarm level adjusting means for emphasizing and outputting an alarm is provided when the position direction of the obstacle is separated from the driver's line-of-sight direction by a predetermined amount, the driver's attention should be paid to confirm the detected obstacle. There is an effect that can be effectively called.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a layout diagram showing an arrangement of display units of a head-up display.

FIG. 3 is a layout diagram showing an arrangement of an infrared illumination light and an infrared camera.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the principle of gaze direction measurement.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of operations in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the outline of feature point extraction in gaze direction measurement.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a head-up display display example of an alarm mark.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a display example of a head-up display as a second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a display example of a head-up display as a third embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a fifth embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing processing of an obstacle detection unit in the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a setting procedure of an area in the obstacle detection area.

[Explanation of Codes] 1 infrared radar head 1a optical system 1b infrared detection element 2, 7 A / D converter 3, 3 ', 3 "obstacle detection section 4 infrared illumination light 5 infrared camera 6 controller 8 line-of-sight direction detection section 9 Head position sensor 10 Observation area setting unit 11 Display position setting unit 12 Head-up display unit 13, 13a, ..., 13e Display unit 14 Front windshield 15 Instrument panel 20 Obstacle irradiation device 25 Alarm output unit B Obstacle BP Walking Person C Center of observation area V Observation area M, M'warning mark

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An obstacle detecting means for detecting an obstacle around a vehicle, a line-of-sight direction detecting means for detecting a line-of-sight direction of a driver, and the obstacle near the line-of-sight direction of the driver detected by the line-of-sight direction detecting means. An obstacle detection device for a vehicle, comprising: a display unit for displaying the presence of the obstacle detected by the object detection unit. 2. An obstacle detecting means for detecting a position direction of an obstacle around the vehicle, a line-of-sight direction detecting means for detecting a line-of-sight direction of the driver, and a position direction of the obstacle detected by the obstacle detecting means. An obstacle detection device for a vehicle, comprising: a display unit that displays the presence of an obstacle between the line-of-sight direction of the driver detected by the line-of-sight direction detection unit. 3. An obstacle detecting means for detecting a position direction of an obstacle around the vehicle, a line-of-sight direction detecting means for detecting a line-of-sight direction of a driver, and an alarm when an obstacle is detected by the obstacle detecting means. When the alarm means to be issued and the position direction of the obstacle detected by the obstacle detecting means are separated from the driver's line-of-sight direction detected by the line-of-sight direction detecting means by a predetermined amount, the alarm is emphasized and output. An obstacle detection device for a vehicle, comprising an alarm adjusting means.