Patent ID: 8749631

Claim:
A vehicle detecting system comprising: image taking means for taking an image of the surroundings of a subject vehicle; vehicle detecting means for detecting a vehicle from the taken image; and lateral-position detecting means for detecting a lateral position of the detected vehicle in the taken image, wherein the lateral-position detecting means vertically divides, into a plurality of sections, a region set in a portion of the taken image in which an image of the vehicle is included or is presumed to be included, and wherein the plurality of sections formed within the region are positioned in a manner designed to delineate different vertical sections of the included, or presumed to be included, image of the vehicle, wherein the lateral-position detecting means calculates average brightnesses of pixels belonging to pixel columns vertically extending in the sections and having a width corresponding to one pixel or a plurality of number of pixels, and wherein the lateral-position detecting means calculates differences between the average brightnesses of the pixel columns and average brightnesses of adjacent pixel columns adjacent in a lateral direction, and detects the lateral position of the vehicle on the basis of absolute values of the differences.