Pedestrian protection device

A pedestrian protection device for a vehicle, the pedestrian protection device being configured to protect a pedestrian by operating a pedestrian protection mechanism, the pedestrian protection device comprising:

• a surrounding environment recognition device configured to acquire surrounding environment information of the vehicle;
• a vehicle speed sensor configured to detect a speed of the vehicle;
• the pedestrian protection mechanism comprising:
• a pedestrian protection airbag;
• and
• an inflator;
• and
• a control unit comprising:
• a pedestrian collision determiner configured to perform a determination on whether a collision of a pedestrian with the vehicle has occurred, based on an output of the surrounding environment recognition device and an output of the vehicle speed sensor;
• and
• an airbag activation instruction unit configured to output an instruction signal for activating the pedestrian protection mechanism based on the determination of the pedestrian collision determiner, wherein
• the surrounding environment recognition device is configured to recognize a pedestrian in a traveling direction of the vehicle,
• the control unit is configured to calculate, based on the output of the surrounding environment recognition device and the output of the vehicle speed sensor, a time to collision for the recognized pedestrian and a reliability of a recognition result indicating the pedestrian, and
• the pedestrian collision determiner is configured to predict occurrence of the collision between the vehicle and the recognized pedestrian and cause the airbag activation instruction unit to output the instruction signal for activating the pedestrian protection mechanism when
• a vehicle speed value detected by the vehicle speed sensor exceeds a predetermined value,
• it is determined that the collision between the vehicle and the recognized pedestrian is unavoidable, and
• the reliability of the recognition result is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold.