Patent ID: 8466806

Claim:
An alert system for a vehicle, said alert system comprising: a lane departure warning system operable to detect lane markers on a road being traveled by a vehicle equipped with said alert system; said lane departure warning system comprising a forward facing camera having a field of view that encompasses the road ahead of and traveled on by the equipped vehicle; wherein said forward facing camera views lane markers on the road being traveled by the equipped vehicle; a side object detection system operable to detect the presence of another vehicle in an adjacent side lane adjacent to the lane being traveled by the equipped vehicle; wherein said side object detection system comprises at least one of (a) a radar detector having a field of view to the side of and rearward of the equipped vehicle as it travels along the road and (b) an image-based detector having a field of view to the side of and rearward of the equipped vehicle as it travels along the road; wherein said at least one of a radar detector and an image-based detector of said side object detection system detects the presence of an overtaking vehicle in the adjacent side lane; wherein, when said lane departure warning system detects a lane change maneuver of the equipped vehicle towards a side lane and when said side object detection system detects the presence of a vehicle in that side lane, said alert system generates an alert to a driver of the equipped vehicle; wherein data is received by a processor and wherein said received data comprises image data captured by said forward facing camera and at least one of (i) radar data captured by said side object detection system and (ii) image data captured by said side object detection system; and wherein, responsive to processing by said processor of said received data, said alert system assesses said received data and, responsive to said assessment of said received data and when a lane change maneuver of the equipped vehicle into a side lane is detected and when a vehicle is present in that side lane, said alert system generates said alert to the driver of the equipped vehicle based on a comparison of the presence of the overtaking vehicle with its position history irrespective of activation by the driver of the equipped vehicle of a turn signal indicator of the equipped vehicle at the side of the vehicle adjacent that side lane.