Vehicle detection by means of stereo vision-based obstacles features extraction and monocular pattern analysis

This paper presents a stereo vision system for the detection and distance computation of a preceding vehicle. It is divided in two major steps. Initially, a stereo vision-based algorithm is used to extract relevant three-dimensional (3-D) features in the scene, these features are investigated further in order to select the ones that belong to vertical objects only and not to the road or background. These 3-D vertical features are then used as a starting point for preceding vehicle detection; by using a symmetry operator, a match against a simplified model of a rear vehicle´s shape is performed using a monocular vision-based approach that allows the identification of a preceding vehicle. In addition, using the 3-D information previously extracted, an accurate distance computation is performed.