Patent ID: 8108134

Claim:
A lane marker recognition apparatus which recognizes a lane marker based on a captured image of a road surface in the direction in which a vehicle is traveling, comprising: a lane identifying portion that identifies the type of lane that the vehicle is traveling in based on the image; and a timing changing portion that provides a change command to change the start timing of an operation of an assist system provided in the vehicle to the assist system when the type of lane identified by the lane identifying portion is a predetermined type of lane, wherein the lane identifying portion includes a lane marker counting portion that determines the number of lane markers captured in a predetermined left region in the image and the number of lane markers captured in a predetermined right region in the image, based on the image, and that determines the number of lane markers captured in a predetermined region as a far region in which an area far from the vehicle in the direction in which the vehicle is traveling is captured, and the number of lane markers captured in a predetermined region as a near region in which an area near the vehicle in the direction in which the vehicle is traveling is captured, in each of the left region and the right region, based on the image, and a carpool identifying portion that identifies whether the type of lane is a carpool lane, based on the number of lane markers captured in the right region and the number of lane markers captured in the left region, in the near region and the far region, and wherein the timing changing portion provides the change command when the type of lane identified by the lane identifying portion is the carpool lane.