Image processing apparatus

An image processing apparatus that processes comprising:

• a stereo camera including a reference camera to capture a reference image and a comparison camera to capture a comparison image;
• an image processing controller configured to
• obtain disparity information of each point commonly found in the reference image and
• the comparison image for calculating three-dimensional distance information to be used to specify an obiect captured by the stereo camera;
• a recognition processing controller configured to:
• specify a target object area encircling the object in one of the reference image and
• the comparison image based on the three-dimensional distance information,
• the object including a plurality of objects located within a predetermined distance;
• perform spatial filter processing of the target object area to extract
• an image feature amount including at least one of a brightness mode value which is cumulative frequencies of edge strength of the object in the target area, and
• an average value of the edge strength of the object in the target area:
• and
• determine whether or not the object in the target object area is a smoky object, based on the image feature amount in the target object area.