A vehicle-based method of determining the extent to which a target object 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 , and a plurality of antenna receiver elements , each being adapted to receive radar signals reflected from the target object , the method comprising: a) transmitting the radar signal from the at least one radar transmit element to the target object ; b) receiving the reflected signals of the signal transmitted in step a) from the target object 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 from the Fourier transform; f) calculating a reference value based on the elements of the beam vector; and g) comparing the peak amplitude with the reference value in order to determine the extent to which the target object 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 based on a sum of absolute values of the beam vector elements, and step g) comprises calculating a relative deviation of the peak amplitude and the reference value 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 ; b) receiving the reflected signals of the signal transmitted in step a) from the target object 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 from the Fourier transform; f) calculating a reference value based on the elements of the beam vector; and g) comparing the peak amplitude with the reference value in order to determine the extent to which the target object 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 based on a sum of absolute values of the beam vector elements, and step g) comprises calculating a relative deviation of the peak amplitude and the reference value 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 based on a sum of absolute values of the beam vector elements, and step g) comprises calculating a relative deviation of the peak amplitude and the reference value and comparing the relative deviation with a threshold which is calculated based on the signal-to-noise ratio of the reflected signals . <EOS>