A vehicle-based method of determining the extent to which a target object (24A, 24B) is a single point scattering center, wherein the vehicle comprises a radar system including at least one radar transmit element adapted to send a radar signal towards the target object (24A, 24B), and a plurality of antenna receiver elements, each being adapted to receive radar signals reflected from the target object (24A, 24B), the method comprising: a) transmitting the radar signal from the at least one radar transmit element to the target object (24A, 24B); b) receiving the reflected signals of the signal transmitted in step a) from the target object (24A, 24B) at the receiver elements; c) performing a frequency transformation of the reflected signals in order to create a range-Doppler map for each of the plurality of receiver elements; d) generating a beam vector by selecting a respective value from each of the range-Doppler maps as an element of the beam vector corresponding to a respective receiver element; characterized by e) processing the beam vector by a Fourier transform and calculating a peak amplitude (320, 420, 520) from the Fourier transform; f) calculating a reference value (330, 430, 530) based on the elements of the beam vector; and g) comparing the peak amplitude (320, 420, 520) with the reference value (330, 430, 530) in order to determine the extent to which the target object (24A, 24B) is a single point scattering center, wherein step d) comprises generating the beam vector by selecting a complex value at a maximum position of the amplitude of a respective range-Doppler map for each of the plurality of receiver elements, step f) comprises calculating the reference value (330, 430, 530) based on a sum of absolute values of the beam vector elements, and step g) comprises calculating a relative deviation of the peak amplitude (320, 420, 520) and the reference value (330, 430, 530) and comparing the relative deviation with a threshold which is calculated based on the signal-to-noise ratio of the reflected signals. a) transmitting the radar signal from the at least one radar transmit element to the target object (24A, 24B); b) receiving the reflected signals of the signal transmitted in step a) from the target object (24A, 24B) at the receiver elements; c) performing a frequency transformation of the reflected signals in order to create a range-Doppler map for each of the plurality of receiver elements; d) generating a beam vector by selecting a respective value from each of the range-Doppler maps as an element of the beam vector corresponding to a respective receiver element; characterized by e) processing the beam vector by a Fourier transform and calculating a peak amplitude (320, 420, 520) from the Fourier transform; f) calculating a reference value (330, 430, 530) based on the elements of the beam vector; and g) comparing the peak amplitude (320, 420, 520) with the reference value (330, 430, 530) in order to determine the extent to which the target object (24A, 24B) is a single point scattering center, wherein step d) comprises generating the beam vector by selecting a complex value at a maximum position of the amplitude of a respective range-Doppler map for each of the plurality of receiver elements, step f) comprises calculating the reference value (330, 430, 530) based on a sum of absolute values of the beam vector elements, and step g) comprises calculating a relative deviation of the peak amplitude (320, 420, 520) and the reference value (330, 430, 530) and comparing the relative deviation with a threshold which is calculated based on the signal-to-noise ratio of the reflected signals. step d) comprises generating the beam vector by selecting a complex value at a maximum position of the amplitude of a respective range-Doppler map for each of the plurality of receiver elements, step f) comprises calculating the reference value (330, 430, 530) based on a sum of absolute values of the beam vector elements, and step g) comprises calculating a relative deviation of the peak amplitude (320, 420, 520) and the reference value (330, 430, 530) and comparing the relative deviation with a threshold which is calculated based on the signal-to-noise ratio of the reflected signals.