Patent ID: 9664787
Date: 2017-05-30
CPC Classifications: G01S

Claim:
1. A lane estimation apparatus comprising: a camera unit which captures an image in front of a vehicle; a radar unit which senses a plurality of stationary objects in front of the vehicle; a lane estimation unit which detects a lane through the image captured by the camera unit, generates an imaginary lane joining a plurality of stationary objects next to a road among the stationary objects sensed by the radar unit, determines whether the generated imaginary lane is valid based on a distance between the detected lane and the generated imaginary lane, generates, when the imaginary lane is valid according to the determined result, a final lane based on the detected lane and the imaginary lane, and recognizes the generated final lane as a driving lane of the vehicle; and a lane detection unit which detects a lane through the image captured by the camera unit; an imaginary lane generation unit which generates an imaginary lane joining the plural stationary objects next to the road among the stationary objects sensed by the radar unit; an imaginary lane validity determination unit which compares similarity between the generated imaginary lane and the detected lane with regard to at least one of lane areas divided into a short-distance area and a long-distance area based on a distance between the vehicle and each of the plural stationary objects, and determines whether the generated imaginary lane is valid according to the compared result; a final lane generation unit which generates, when the imaginary lane is valid according to the determined result, a final lane based on the detected lane and the imaginary lane; and a lane recognition unit which recognizes the generated final lane as a driving lane of the vehicle.