Vehicle vision system with object detection failsafe

A method for determining a safe state for a vehicle, the method comprising:

• disposing a camera at a vehicle such that the camera has a field of view exterior of the vehicle, the camera comprising a lens and an imager;
• disposing an electronic control unit (ECU) at the vehicle, wherein the ECU comprises an image processor operable to process image data captured by the camera;
• capturing image data via the camera and providing captured image data to the ECU;
• processing at the image processor of the ECU image data captured by the camera and provided to the ECU;
• determining, via processing at the image processor of the ECU image data captured by the camera and provided to the ECU, a damaged condition of the imager within two minutes of operation of the camera, wherein the determined damaged condition of the imager within two minutes of operation of the camera is indicative of a condition where processing of captured image data degrades in performance;
• and
• determining, via the ECU, and responsive to determining the damaged condition of the imager within two minutes of operation of the camera, a safe state for the vehicle.

A method for determining a safe state for a vehicle, the method comprising:

• disposing a camera at a vehicle such that the camera has a field of view exterior of the vehicle, the camera comprising a lens and an imager, wherein the imager of the camera comprises a CMOS imaging array having at least one million photosensor elements arranged in a plurality of rows and columns;
• disposing an electronic control unit (ECU) at the vehicle, wherein the ECU comprises an image processor operable to process image data captured by the camera;
• capturing image data via the camera and providing captured image data to the ECU;
• processing at the image processor of the ECU image data captured by the camera and provided to the ECU;
• determining, via processing at the image processor of the ECU image data captured by the camera and provided to the ECU, (i) a shadow present in the field of view of the camera within ten frames of captured image data or (ii) a damaged condition of the imager within two minutes of operation of the camera, wherein the determined shadow or damaged condition of the imager is indicative of a condition where processing of captured image data degrades in performance;
• determining, via the ECU, and responsive to determining (i) the shadow present in the field of view of the camera within ten frames of captured image data or (ii) a damaged condition of the imager within two minutes of operation of the camera, a safe state for the vehicle;
• and
• determining, responsive to processing at the ECU of image data captured by the camera and provided to the ECU, if (i) the lens of the camera is at least partially blocked, (ii) the camera is out of focus or (iii) the camera is out of calibration.