Patent ID: 7987052

Claim:
A method for evaluation, within a motor vehicle, of the characteristics of a front element, said motor vehicle being equipped at least with a first camera and a second camera, wherein the method comprises the steps of: placing the first camera in a first position and the second camera in a second position, wherein the first position and the second position are placed considering an orthogonal three-dimensional reference frame having an abscissa axis oriented parallel to a direction of displacement of the vehicle, a horizontal applicate axis and a vertical ordinate axis: the first camera and the second camera respectively have a first optical axis and a second optical axis, respectively, that are generally parallel to the abscissa axis; the first camera and the second camera have a first offset along the applicate axis; the first camera and the second camera have a second offset along the vertical ordinate axis; establishing a first evaluation of a distance separating the vehicle from the front element by using the first offset to carry out a first stereoscopic calculation; establishing a second evaluation of the distance separating the vehicle from the front element by using the second offset to carry out a second stereoscopic calculation; determining the distance separating the vehicle from the front element by combining the first distance evaluation and the second distance evaluation; and capturing a first image with said first and second cameras at the same point in time; said first stereoscopic calculation being made using said first image captured by said first and second cameras and said first offset and said first and second cameras each capturing a second image at the same point in time, said second stereoscopic calculation being made using said second image captured by said first and second cameras and said second offset: determining said first offset and said second offset prior to said capturing step.