Patent ID: 8503265

Claim:
An obstacle detection apparatus comprising: a transmission and reception device located at a predetermined height on a movable object and directed toward an outside, the transmission and reception device including i) a transmission unit, being a single element, configured to repeatedly transmit sensing waves at a predetermined interval and ii) a reception unit, being a single element, configured to receive reflective waves of the sensing waves from the detected object in a detection area; a peak value detecting unit responsive to the reception unit, and configured to detect peak values of the reflective waves received by the reception unit and configured to store the detected peak values; a difference arithmetic unit responsive to the detected peak values received from the peak value detecting unit, and configured to calculate a difference in the peak values detected by the peak value detecting unit with movement of the movable object closer to the detected object; and an object determination unit responsive to the difference received from the difference arithmetic unit, and configured to i) determine a kind of the detected object to be a near-road-surface obstacle, which exists at a position close to a road surface, when the difference in the peak values calculated by the difference arithmetic unit is a negative value, and ii) determine the kind of the detected object to be an other obstacle, which exists at a position higher than the position close to the road surface, when the difference in the peak values calculated by the difference arithmetic unit is a positive value.