Patent ID: 7496449

Claim:
An object recognition apparatus for a vehicle comprising: radar means for transmitting a plurality of transmission waves throughout a predetermined angular range in a forward direction of the vehicle, receiving a reflected wave of each of the transmission waves from a reflecting object in response to the transmission, and outputting, when each of the reflected waves is received, a reception signal corresponding to an intensity of the reflected wave; and recognition means for recognizing an object existing in the forward direction of the vehicle on the basis of a result of the transmission/reception by said radar means, wherein the radar means includes: distance calculation means for calculating a distance to said reflecting object in a transmission direction of the transmission wave on the basis of a time length from the transmission of the transmission wave to the reception of the reflected wave; intensity calculation means for calculating an intensity of the reflected wave on the basis of the reception signal, and the recognition means includes first unification means for, when the radar means receives a plurality of reflected waves in response to the transmission of the transmission waves, unifying a plurality of reflecting objects producing the plurality of reflected waves to recognize the plurality of reflecting objects as the same reflecting object provided that i) a difference between distances calculated by the distance calculation means on the basis of the plurality of reflected waves is shorter than a predetermined distance, ii) the plurality of reflected waves are produced by transmission waves transmitted close to each other from the radar means, and iii) a difference between the intensifies of the plurality of reflected waves calculated by the intensity calculation means is lower than a predetermined value.