Vehicular driving assist system utilizing sequential sensor fusion

A vehicular sensing system, the vehicular sensing system comprising:

• a plurality of sensors disposed at a vehicle equipped with the vehicular sensing system, wherein each sensor of the plurality of sensors is operable to capture sensor data;
• an electronic control unit (ECU) comprising electronic circuitry and associated software;
• wherein sensor data captured by each sensor of the plurality of sensors is transferred to the ECU;
• wherein the electronic circuitry of the ECU comprises a data processor for processing sensor data captured by the plurality of sensors and transferred to the ECU;
• wherein the vehicular sensing system, based at least in part on processing at the ECU of sensor data captured by each sensor of the plurality of sensors, (i) sorts sensor data captured by the plurality of sensors by chronological order based on when the sensor data was captured by each respective sensor and (ii) generates an object list listing one or more objects sensed via processing at the ECU of sensor data captured by each sensor of the plurality of sensors;
• wherein the object list comprises an object state and a covariance for each object in the object list;
• wherein the vehicular sensing system converts the object list from sensor-level coordinates into global coordinates;
• wherein a sensor of the plurality of sensors, after the object list is converted from sensor-level coordinates into global coordinates, captures additional sensor data;
• wherein the vehicular sensing system, based at least in part on processing at the ECU of additional sensor data captured by the sensor, converts the object list from global coordinates into sensor-level coordinates;
• and
• wherein the vehicular sensing system, after the object list is converted from global coordinates into sensor-level coordinates, and via processing at the ECU of additional sensor data captured by the sensor, updates the object list based on the additional sensor data captured by the sensor.

A vehicular sensing system, the vehicular sensing system comprising:

• a radar sensor disposed at a vehicle equipped with the vehicular sensing system, wherein the radar sensor is operable to capture sensor data;
• a camera disposed at the equipped vehicle, wherein the camera is operable to capture image data;
• wherein the camera comprises an imager, and wherein the imager 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 sensor data captured by the radar sensor and image data captured by the camera are transferred to the ECU based on first-in-first-out protocol;
• wherein the electronic circuitry of the ECU comprises a data processor for processing (i) sensor data captured by the radar sensor and transferred to the ECU and (ii) image data captured by the camera and transferred to the ECU;
• wherein the vehicular sensing system, based at least in part on processing at the ECU of (i) sensor data captured by the radar sensor and (ii) image data captured by the camera, (a) sorts sensor data captured by the radar sensor and image data captured by the camera by chronological order based on when the sensor data was captured by the radar sensor and the image data was captured by the camera and (b) generates an object list listing one or more objects sensed via processing at the ECU of sensor data captured by the radar sensor and image data captured by the camera;
• wherein the vehicular sensing system converts the object list from sensor-level coordinates into global coordinates;
• wherein the radar sensor, after the object list is converted from sensor-level coordinates into global coordinates, captures additional sensor data, and wherein the camera, after the object list is converted from sensor-level coordinates into global coordinates, captures additional image data;
• wherein the vehicular sensing system, based at least in part on processing at the ECU of additional sensor data captured by the radar sensor and additional image data captured by the camera, converts the object list from global coordinates into sensor-level coordinates;
• and
• wherein the vehicular sensing system, after the object list is converted from global coordinates into sensor-level coordinates, and via processing at the ECU of additional sensor data captured by the radar sensor and additional image data captured by the camera, updates the object list based on the additional sensor data captured by the radar sensor and the additional image data captured by the camera.