Obstacle detecting apparatus with error detection and recovery

An obstacle detecting apparatus for detecting the presence of an obstacle in the vicinity of a vehicle, comprising:

• plural sensors, each rendered operational by one of plural predetermined parameters;
• and
• a processing unit for transmitting the plural predetermined parameters to the plural sensors, the processing unit comprising:
• vehicle state detector configured to detect a running state of the vehicle,
• condition determiner configured to determine that the running state of the vehicle corresponds to one of an operating condition that indicates that the plural sensors should be operated and a forbidding condition that indicates that the operation of the plural sensors should be forbidden,
• communication controller configured to communicate with the plural sensors, and
• parameter setting processor configured to implement a parameter setting process for transmitting the plural predetermined parameters to the plural sensors and receiving a response from each of the plural sensors that indicates completion of the parameter setting process, wherein
• the parameter setting processor repeats the parameter setting process for all of the plural sensors upon at least one of the following occurring:
• the parameter of at least one sensor of the plural sensors is not set, and
• communication by the communication controller is impossible,
• when the condition determiner determines that the running state of the vehicle corresponds to the forbidding condition.