Vehicular driving assist system using radar sensors and cameras

A vehicular driving assist system, the vehicular driving assist system comprising:

• a plurality of radar sensors disposed at a vehicle equipped with the vehicular driving assist system, the plurality of radar sensors capturing sensor data;
• wherein the plurality of radar sensors include at least (i) a driver-side radar sensor that senses at least rearward of the vehicle and sideward of the vehicle at a driver side of the vehicle and (ii) a passenger-side radar sensor that senses at least rearward of the vehicle and sideward of the vehicle at a passenger side of the vehicle;
• a plurality of cameras disposed at the vehicle, the plurality of cameras capturing image data;
• wherein the plurality of cameras are part of a surround view vision system of the vehicle, and wherein the plurality of cameras include at least (i) a driver-side sideward viewing camera that views at least sideward of the vehicle at the driver side of the vehicle, (ii) a passenger-side sideward viewing camera that views at least sideward of the vehicle at the passenger side of the vehicle, and (iii) a rearward viewing camera that views at least rearward of the vehicle;
• wherein each camera of the plurality of cameras comprises a CMOS imaging array having at least one million photosensors arranged in rows and columns;
• an electronic control unit (ECU) comprising electronic circuitry and associated software;
• wherein the electronic circuitry of the ECU comprises at least one data processor for processing sensor data captured by the plurality of radar sensors and for processing image data captured by the plurality of cameras;
• wherein the vehicular driving assist system, when the vehicle is travelling along a path of travel and responsive to processing at the ECU of sensor data captured by the plurality of radar sensors, is operable to determine presence of an object that is in one selected from the group consisting of (i) an adjacent zone and (ii) a rear zone;
• wherein the adjacent zone extends a first distance rearward of the vehicle and along one selected from the group consisting of (a) the driver side of the vehicle and (b) the passenger side of the vehicle, and wherein the rear zone extends a second distance rearward of the vehicle and at least partially rearward of the adjacent zone, and wherein the second distance is greater than the first distance;
• wherein the vehicular driving assist system, responsive to determining presence of the object, and via processing at the ECU of image data captured by at least one camera of the plurality of cameras, confirms presence of the object;
• wherein the vehicular driving assist system, responsive to confirming presence of the object in the adjacent zone, determines a degree of collision risk based on proximity of the object to the vehicle;
• wherein the vehicular driving assist system, responsive to confirming presence of the object in the rear zone, estimates a time to collision (TTC) of the object to the vehicle and determines the degree of collision risk based on the estimated TTC;
• wherein, responsive to confirming presence of the object in the adjacent zone, the vehicular driving assist system determines that the degree of collision risk is above a threshold collision risk by determining that the determined proximity of the object to the equipped vehicle is below a threshold distance;
• and
• wherein, responsive to confirming presence of the object in the rear zone, the vehicular driving assist system determines that the degree of collision risk is above the threshold collision risk by determining that the determined TTC is below a threshold TTC.

A vehicular driving assist system, the vehicular driving assist system comprising:

• a plurality of radar sensors disposed at a vehicle equipped with the vehicular driving assist system, the plurality of radar sensors capturing sensor data;
• wherein the plurality of radar sensors include at least (i) a driver-side radar sensor that senses at least rearward of the equipped vehicle and sideward of the equipped vehicle at a driver side of the equipped vehicle and (ii) a passenger-side radar sensor that senses at least rearward of the equipped vehicle and sideward of the equipped vehicle at a passenger side of the equipped vehicle;
• a plurality of cameras disposed at the equipped vehicle, the plurality of cameras capturing image data;
• wherein the plurality of cameras are part of a surround view vision system of the equipped vehicle, and wherein the plurality of cameras include at least (i) a driver-side sideward viewing camera that views at least sideward of the equipped vehicle at the driver side of the equipped vehicle, (ii) a passenger-side sideward viewing camera that views at least sideward of the equipped vehicle at the passenger side of the equipped vehicle, and (iii) a rearward viewing camera that views at least rearward of the equipped vehicle;
• wherein each camera of the plurality of cameras comprises a CMOS imaging array having at least one million photosensors arranged in rows and columns;
• an electronic control unit (ECU) comprising electronic circuitry and associated software;
• wherein the electronic circuitry of the ECU comprises at least one data processor for processing sensor data captured by the plurality of radar sensors and for processing image data captured by the plurality of cameras;
• wherein the vehicular driving assist system, when the equipped vehicle is travelling along a path of travel and responsive to processing at the ECU of sensor data captured by the plurality of radar sensors, is operable to determine presence of another vehicle that is in one selected from the group consisting of (i) an adjacent zone and (ii) a rear zone;
• wherein the adjacent zone extends a first distance rearward of the equipped vehicle and along one selected from the group consisting of (a) the driver side of the equipped vehicle and (b) the passenger side of the equipped vehicle, and wherein the rear zone extends a second distance rearward of the equipped vehicle and at least partially rearward of the adjacent zone, and wherein the second distance is greater than the first distance;
• wherein the rear zone extends for the second distance rearward of the equipped vehicle from a rear bumper of the equipped vehicle, and wherein the adjacent zone and the rear zone at least partially overlap;
• wherein the vehicular driving assist system, responsive to determining presence of the other vehicle, and via processing at the ECU of image data captured by at least one camera of the plurality of cameras, confirms presence of the other vehicle;
• wherein the vehicular driving assist system, responsive to confirming presence of the other vehicle in the adjacent zone, determines a degree of collision risk based on proximity of the other vehicle to the equipped vehicle;
• and
• wherein the vehicular driving assist system, responsive to confirming presence of the other vehicle in the rear zone, estimates a time to collision (TTC) of the other vehicle to the equipped vehicle and determines the degree of collision risk based on the estimated TTC.