Pedestrian determining apparatus for determining whether an object is a pedestrian crossing ahead of an own vehicle

A pedestrian determining apparatus for determining whether an object is a pedestrian crossing ahead of an own vehicle, the pedestrian determining apparatus comprising:

• an object detecting unit that detects, based on waves reflected by an object, the object as a radar-based object, the reflected waves being generated based on reflection, by the object, of radar waves transmitted ahead of the own vehicle;
• an image obtaining unit that obtains a captured image of scenery ahead of the own vehicle;
• an image recognizing unit that recognizes an object in the obtained image as an image-based object;
• a matching level obtaining unit comprising a dictionary of pedestrians and configured to obtain, upon the image-based object recognized by the image recognizing unit being identical to the radar-based object detected by the object detecting unit, a matching level between the image-based object and the dictionary of pedestrians in accordance with a matching task between the image-based object and the dictionary of pedestrians;
• an optical flow obtaining unit configured to, upon the image-based object recognized by the image recognizing unit being identical to the radar-based object detected by the object detecting unit, obtain optical flows of feature points on the image-based object;
• a moving speed obtaining unit that obtains a lateral moving speed of the radar-based object;
• a movement distance obtaining unit that obtains a lateral movement distance of the radar-based object;
• and
• a likelihood calculating unit that executes at least one of:
• a first task to set a first likelihood for the radar-based object to be lower for a state in which the radar-based object is detected as a part of a group of objects arranged at regular intervals than for a state in which the radar-based object is not detected as a part of the group of objects arranged at regular intervals, the first likelihood being a likelihood of the radar-based object being a pedestrian crossing ahead of the own vehicle;
• a second task to set a second likelihood for the radar-based object such that, the higher the matching level is, the higher the second likelihood for the radar-based object is, the second likelihood being a likelihood of the radar-based object being a pedestrian crossing ahead of the own vehicle;
• a third task to set a third likelihood for the radar-based object to be higher for a state in which the optical flows show lateral movements on the image than for a state in which the optical flows do not show the lateral movements on the image, the third likelihood being a likelihood of the radar-based object being a pedestrian crossing ahead of the own vehicle;
• a fourth task to:
• set a fourth likelihood for the radar-based object to be higher for a state in which intensities of the reflected waves are equal to or less than a predetermined threshold level than for a state in which the intensities of the reflected waves are more than the predetermined threshold level;
• and
• set the fourth likelihood for the radar-based object to be higher for a state in which magnitudes of fluctuations of the reflected waves are equal to or more than a predetermined threshold value than for a state in which the magnitudes of the fluctuations of the reflected waves are less than the predetermined threshold value, the fourth likelihood being a likelihood of the radar-based object being a pedestrian crossing ahead of the own vehicle;
• a fifth task to set a fifth likelihood for the radar-based object to be higher for a state in which the lateral moving speed of the radar-based object is within a predetermined range than for a state in which the lateral moving speed of the radar-based object is outside the predetermined range, the fifth likelihood being a likelihood of the radar-based object being a pedestrian crossing ahead of the own vehicle;
• and
• a sixth task to set a sixth likelihood for the radar-based object to be higher for a state in which the lateral movement distance of the radar-based object is within a predetermined distance range than for a state in which the lateral movement distance of the radar-based object is outside the predetermined distance range, the sixth likelihood being a likelihood of the radar-based object being a pedestrian crossing ahead of the own vehicle;
• and
• a pedestrian determining unit that determines whether the radar-based object is a pedestrian crossing ahead of the own vehicle in accordance with at least one of the first to sixth likelihoods obtained by a corresponding at least one of the first to sixth tasks.