Rear lights vehicle detection for collision avoidance

Vehicle detection based on on-board mounted cameras is an integral component of many driver assistance systems aiming at alerting the driver about impending collisions. In this paper an automated algorithm for detection of preceding vehicles is proposed, based on the detection of rear vehicle lights. Unlike many systems which make use of static threshold boundaries for the red color segmentation of rear lights, our method combines color and radial symmetry cues while the threshold is dynamically adapted. The extracted candidate rear lights are morphologically paired in order to define possible areas where vehicles are present. The verification of vehicle presence is then carried out through axial symmetry check. Experimental results that demonstrate the system´s high detection rates and robustness even in adverse illumination and weather conditions are finally presented.