Patent ID: 7940301

Claim:
A vehicle driving assist system for assisting a driver in driving a vehicle by recognizing an external environment of the vehicle, comprising: an imaging device imaging the external environment of the vehicle; a 3-D obstacle detector detecting a 3-D obstacle inhibiting the driving direction of the vehicle and the distance to the 3-D obstacle based on an image of the external environment captured by the imaging means; a visual perception difficulty determination device determining, based on automatic analysis of the captured image of the external environment including the 3-D obstacle and other 3-D objects, whether the external environment is in a condition which makes it difficult for the driver to visually perceive the 3-D obstacle by the presence of the other 3-D objects; a collision avoidance device controlling the vehicle so as to avoid the collision with the 3-D obstacle; and a controller, upon detection of the 3-D obstacle by the 3-D obstacle detector, controlling the activation of the collision avoidance device based on detecting a 3-D obstacle inhibiting the driving direction of the vehicle and changing the controlling of the activation of the collision avoidance means based on the determination result of the visual perception difficulty determination device.