Method and control unit for detecting a vehicle moving in or out

A method for detecting an object that is relevant for a driving function of a vehicle, the method comprising:

• predicting a driving tube for the vehicle surrounding an upcoming movement path of the vehicle;
• providing an overlap profile that shows different overlap values for different positions relative to the driving tube, wherein each of the different overlap values indicates a degree of proximity of each of the different positions to the driving tube;
• detecting an object located in front of the vehicle, based on vicinity data received from one or more of an image camera, a radar sensor, a lidar sensor, and an ultrasonic sensor;
• determining a reference point at the object;
• determining a reference position of the reference point relative to the driving tube;
• determining, based on the overlap profile and the reference position, an overlap value of the reference point as overlap information with respect to an overlap of the reference point with the driving tube;
• determining, based on different overlap information for the different positions, whether the proximity of the reference point to the driving tube increases or not, and thereby determining whether or not the object enters the driving tube of the vehicle;
• and
• controlling a driving function of the vehicle based on a determination of whether or not the object enters the driving tube of the vehicle, wherein the driving function is configured to adapt the driving speed of the vehicle to the driving speed of the object and/or to set a specific following distance from the object in a case in which the determination is that the object enters the driving tube of the vehicle.