Scenario-driven search for pedestrians aimed at triggering non-reversible systems

This paper presents the results of an innovative approach to pedestrian detection for automotive applications in which a non-reversible system is used; therefore the aim is to reach a very low false detection rate, ideally zero, by searching for pedestrians in specific areas only. The great advantages of such an approach are that pedestrian recognition is performed on limited image areas - therefore boosting its timing performance - and no assessment on the danger level is finally required before providing the result to either the driver or an on-board computer for automatic manoeuvres. This system has been extensively tested on two prototype vehicles equipped with one laser scanner, one camera, and brake-by-wire technology both in Italy and Korea; this paper describes the extensive tests and shows performance measurements.