Apparatus for protecting pedestrian from vehicle collision

A vehicle comprising:

• a plurality of impact absorption units;
• a monitor configured to monitor a surrounding environment of a vehicle body, the surrounding environment including presence/absence of an object around the vehicle body;
• a plurality of detectors, which correspond to the plurality of impact absorption units, each detector configured to detect an impact applied onto the vehicle body when the object comes into contact with the vehicle body;
• and
• an operation controller configured to selectively operate the plurality of impact absorption units, wherein,
• where V represents a vehicle speed, and V1<V2<V3 is satisfied,
• in a case where V≤V1 or V>V3, the operation controller suppresses operating the plurality of impact absorption units,
• in a case where V1≤V≤V2, after at least one detector among the plurality of detectors detects the impact, the operation controller operates, among the plurality of impact absorption units, at least one impact absorption unit corresponding to the at least one detector, and
• in a case where V2≤V<V3, the operation controller specifies a portion of the vehicle body with which the object comes into contact based on a monitoring result from the monitor, and
• (i) in a case where the portion is a predetermined portion of the vehicle body, the operation controller operates, among the plurality of impact absorption units, at least one impact absorption unit corresponding to the portion, before at least one detector among the plurality of detectors detects the impact, and
• (ii) in a case where the portion is not the predetermined portion of the vehicle body, after at least one detector among the plurality of detectors detects the impact, the operation controller operates, among the plurality of impact absorption units, at least one impact absorption unit corresponding to the at least one detector.