Vehicular trailering assist system with hitch point detection

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

• a camera disposed at a vehicle equipped with the vehicular trailering assist system and viewing exterior of the equipped vehicle;
• wherein the camera is operable to capture image data representative of at least a portion of a trailer hitched to the equipped vehicle;
• 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);
• wherein image data captured by the camera is transferred to the ECU;
• wherein the ECU comprises electronic circuitry and associated software, and wherein the electronic circuitry of the ECU comprises an image processor operable to process image data transferred to the ECU;
• wherein the vehicular trailering assist system, during a driving maneuver of the equipped vehicle with the trailer hitched to the equipped vehicle, and with the trailer pivoting relative to the vehicle during the driving maneuver, and via processing at the ECU of frames of image data captured by the camera during the driving maneuver, determines locations in the respective frames of image data of a target disposed at the trailer;
• wherein the vehicular trailering assist system determines real-world coordinates of the target relative to the vehicle that correspond to the determined locations of the target in the respective frames of image data;
• wherein the vehicular trailering assist system determines the real-world coordinates of the target based on converting pixel coordinates to real-world coordinates;
• wherein the vehicular trailering assist system determines (i) a first intersection line extending between the real-world coordinate of the target corresponding to a first frame of image data and the real-world coordinate of the target corresponding to a second frame of image data and (ii) a first perpendicular line extending perpendicular to the first intersection line;
• wherein the vehicular trailering assist system determines (i) a second intersection line extending between the real-world coordinate of the target corresponding to a third frame of image data and the real-world coordinate of the target corresponding to a fourth frame of image data and (ii) a second perpendicular line extending perpendicular to the second intersection line;
• wherein the vehicular trailering assist system determines (i) a third intersection line extending between the real-world coordinate of the target corresponding to a fifth frame of image data and the real-world coordinate of the target corresponding to a sixth frame of image data and (ii) a third perpendicular line extending perpendicular to the third intersection line;
• wherein the vehicular trailering assist system determines a pivot point of the trailer relative to the equipped vehicle based on an intersection point of at least two selected from the group consisting of (i) the first perpendicular line, (ii) the second perpendicular line and (iii) the third perpendicular line;
• and
• wherein the vehicular trailering assist system determines a trailer angle of the trailer relative to the equipped vehicle based on the determined pivot point of the trailer relative to the equipped vehicle.

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

• a camera disposed at a vehicle equipped with the vehicular trailering assist system and viewing exterior of the equipped vehicle;
• wherein the camera is operable to capture image data representative of at least a portion of a trailer hitched to the equipped vehicle;
• 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);
• wherein image data captured by the camera is transferred to the ECU;
• wherein the ECU comprises electronic circuitry and associated software, and wherein the electronic circuitry of the ECU comprises an image processor operable to process image data transferred to the ECU;
• wherein the vehicular trailering assist system, during a driving maneuver of the equipped vehicle with the trailer hitched to the equipped vehicle, and with the trailer pivoting relative to the vehicle during the driving maneuver, and via processing at the ECU of frames of image data captured by the camera during the driving maneuver, determines locations in the respective frames of image data of a target disposed at the trailer;
• wherein the vehicular trailering assist system determines real-world coordinates of the target relative to the vehicle that correspond to the determined locations of the target in the respective frames of image data;
• wherein the vehicular trailering assist system stores the real-world coordinates of the target in a buffer at least until a threshold number of different real-world coordinates are stored, and wherein the vehicular trailering assist system stores the real-world coordinates of the target in the buffer in pivotal increments of the trailer relative to the vehicle;
• wherein the vehicular trailering assist system determines (i) a first intersection line extending between the real-world coordinate of the target corresponding to a first frame of image data and the real-world coordinate of the target corresponding to a second frame of image data and (ii) a first perpendicular line extending perpendicular to the first intersection line;
• wherein the vehicular trailering assist system determines (i) a second intersection line extending between the real-world coordinate of the target corresponding to a third frame of image data and the real-world coordinate of the target corresponding to a fourth frame of image data and (ii) a second perpendicular line extending perpendicular to the second intersection line;
• wherein the vehicular trailering assist system determines a pivot point of the trailer relative to the equipped vehicle based on an intersection point of the first perpendicular line and the second perpendicular line;
• and
• wherein the vehicular trailering assist system determines a trailer angle of the trailer relative to the equipped vehicle based on the determined pivot point of the trailer relative to the equipped vehicle.