Patent ID: 6879249

Claim:
A vehicle obstacle detecting apparatus comprising: an obstacle sensor configured and arranged to detect objects around a vehicle and to output detected obstacle information; an obstacle detecting section configured and arranged to compare the detected obstacle information from the obstacle sensor and pre-stored obstacle detection reference information to produce a similarity value that is compared with a threshold value to determine a presence of an obstacle around the vehicle and to output a positive obstacle determination based on the similarity value and the threshold value; a vehicle response section configured and arranged to produce a vehicle response upon the positive obstacle determination by the obstacle detecting section; a driver operation storing section configured and arranged to detect a driver operation, and to store an average operation characteristic data calculated based on the driver operation; a precision determining section configured and arranged to determine an expected driver operation upon the positive obstacle determination by the obstacle detecting section based on the average operation characteristic data, and to compare the expected driver operation with an actual driver operation to determine a precision of a detection of the obstacle; and a threshold value updating section configured and arranged to adjust the threshold value based on the precision of the detection of the obstacle determined in the precision determining section.