Object detection apparatus

An object detection apparatus, comprising:

• distance measuring devices, each of the distance measuring devices being provided in a vehicle and configured to
• emit ultrasonic waves,
• measure a time from emission of the ultrasonic waves until receiving reflected waves reflected by an object around the vehicle,
• detect an object around the vehicle, and
• obtain distance information indicating a distance to the detected object;
• and
• a hardware processor connected to a memory and configured to
• determine a scene in which the vehicle is placed, the determination being performed on a basis of at least one of the distance information, vehicle speed information indicating a speed of the vehicle, image information obtained by capturing an image of surroundings of the vehicle by an image pickup device, and location information identifying a location of the vehicle on a map, and
• perform, on a basis of a scene determination result obtained by the hardware processor, at least one of setting of a high-sensitivity area where sensitivity for detecting the reflected waves is temporarily increased, a change of an emission interval of the ultrasonic waves, and a change of an emission sequence of the ultrasonic waves,
• wherein the scene determined by the hardware processor is a crosswalk approaching scene where the vehicle is approaching a crosswalk,
• the hardware processor is further configured to, when the scene determination result is the crosswalk approaching scene, perform one of the setting of the high-sensitivity area, the change of the emission interval, and the change of the emission sequence by using, as a reference, a range corresponding to the crosswalk or an area where the crosswalk is extended to a sidewalk,
• at least one of the distance measuring devices includes:
• a sidewalk-side distance measuring device provided to direct a direction on a near side of the sidewalk with respect to a traveling direction of the vehicle;
• and
• a roadway-side distance measuring device provided to direct a direction on a near side of a center of a roadway with respect to the traveling direction of the vehicle, and
• the hardware processor, when the scene determination result is the crosswalk approaching scene, sets a high-sensitivity area of the sidewalk-side distance measuring device to be larger than a high-sensitivity area of the roadway-side distance measuring device.

An object detection apparatus, comprising:

• distance measuring devices, each of the distance measuring devices being provided in a vehicle and configured to
• emit ultrasonic waves,
• measure a time from emission of the ultrasonic waves until receiving reflected waves reflected by an object around the vehicle,
• detect an object around the vehicle, and
• obtain distance information indicating a distance to the detected object;
• and
• a hardware processor connected to a memory and configured to
• determine a scene in which the vehicle is placed, the determination being performed on a basis of at least one of the distance information, vehicle speed information indicating a speed of the vehicle, image information obtained by capturing an image of surroundings of the vehicle by an image pickup device, and location information identifying a location of the vehicle on a map, and
• perform, on a basis of a scene determination result obtained by the processor, at least one of setting of a high-sensitivity area where sensitivity for detecting the reflected waves is temporarily increased, a change of an emission interval of the ultrasonic waves, and a change of an emission sequence of the ultrasonic waves,
• wherein the scene determined by the hardware processor is a preceding-vehicle approaching scene where the vehicle is approaching and following a preceding vehicle,
• the hardware processor is further configured to, when the scene determination result is the preceding-vehicle approaching scene, perform any of the setting of the high-sensitivity area, the change of the emission interval of the ultrasonic waves, and the change of the emission sequence of the ultrasonic waves, by using a distance between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle as a reference,
• at least one of the distance measuring devices includes:
• a central distance measuring device provided to direct a traveling direction of the vehicle;
• a sidewalk-side distance measuring device provided to direct a direction on a near side of the sidewalk with respect to a traveling direction of the vehicle;
• and
• a roadway-side distance measuring device provided to direct a direction on a near side of a center of a roadway with respect to the traveling direction of the vehicle, and
• the hardware processor, when the scene determination result is the preceding-vehicle approaching scene, changes the emission sequence of the ultrasonic waves and causes a frequency of emission of the ultrasonic waves by the sidewalk-side distance measuring device to be higher than a frequency of emission of ultrasonic waves by the central distance measuring device.