Vehicular trailering assist system and method

A method for determining a characteristic of a trailer hitched to a vehicle, the method comprising:

• disposing a camera at a rear portion of a vehicle so as to have a field of view exterior and rearward of the vehicle, the vehicle having a vehicle centerline, wherein the camera comprises a CMOS imaging array having at least one million photosensor elements arranged in columns and rows;
• providing a control comprising an image processor operable to process multiple frames of image data captured by the camera;
• providing a trailer and hitching a tongue of the trailer to a hitch ball of the vehicle;
• with the trailer hitched to the vehicle, capturing multiple frames of image data via the camera;
• providing the captured multiple frames of image data to the control;
• processing at the control the provided captured multiple frames of image data;
• with the trailer hitched to the vehicle, and responsive to processing at the control of at least one frame of the provided captured multiple frames of image data, determining location of a portion of the trailer relative to the camera;
• responsive to the determination of the location of the portion of the trailer relative to the camera, determining a subregion of the CMOS imaging array imaging the determined portion of the trailer;
• responsive to the determination of the subregion of the CMOS imaging array, enhancing processing at the control of the determined subregion of the CMOS imaging array during processing at the control of subsequent frames of captured image data;
• tracking the subregion of the CMOS imaging array over the subsequent frames of captured image data;
• determining, via the enhanced processing at the control of the determined subregion of the CMOS imaging array for subsequent frames of captured image data, location of the portion of the trailer relative to the vehicle centerline in the subsequent frames of captured image data;
• and
• determining, responsive at least in part to the determination of the location of the portion of the trailer relative to the vehicle centerline, angle of the trailer relative to the vehicle centerline.

A method for determining a characteristic of a trailer hitched to a vehicle, the method comprising:

• disposing a camera at a rear portion of a vehicle so as to have a field of view exterior and rearward of the vehicle, the vehicle having a vehicle centerline, wherein the camera comprises a CMOS imaging array having at least one million photosensor elements arranged in columns and rows;
• providing a control comprising an image processor operable to process multiple frames of image data captured by the camera;
• providing a trailer and hitching a tongue of the trailer to a hitch ball of the vehicle;
• with the trailer hitched to the vehicle, capturing multiple frames of image data via the camera;
• providing the captured multiple frames of image data to the control;
• processing at the control the provided captured multiple frames of image data;
• with the trailer hitched to the vehicle, and responsive to processing at the control of at least one frame of the provided captured multiple frames of image data, determining location of a portion of the trailer relative to the camera;
• responsive to the determination of the location of the portion of the trailer relative to the camera, determining a subregion of the CMOS imaging array imaging the determined portion of the trailer;
• wherein determining location of the portion of the trailer relative to the camera comprises (i) determining vertical distance between the determined location of the portion of the trailer and the camera and (ii) determining horizontal distance between the determined location of the portion of the trailer and the camera;
• responsive to the determination of the subregion of the CMOS imaging array, enhancing processing at the control of the determined subregion of the CMOS imaging array during processing at the control of subsequent frames of captured image data;
• determining, via the enhanced processing at the control of the determined subregion of the CMOS imaging array for subsequent frames of captured image data, location of the portion of the trailer relative to the vehicle centerline in the subsequent frames of captured image data;
• and
• determining, responsive at least in part to the determination of the location of the portion of the trailer relative to the vehicle centerline, angle of the trailer relative to the vehicle centerline.