This paper introduces an approach to the recognition of non-motorised road users. The idea of the proposal is for potentially vulnerable people such as pedestrians, children, or cyclists to wear a special retro-reflector as an optical marker. This retro-reflector shall be recognised as highly reliable, by a low cost camera based sensor located on the car. The approach proposed means that the use of the inexpensive retro-reflector for highly vulnerable road users would lead to a drastic reduction in the expenditure for sensors and image processing on the car side. In order to detect the special coated retro-reflectors, the device on the car radiates light of two wavelengths and at the same time a camera chip analyses the wavelengths of the reflected light. Another special feature of the sensor module is its ability to detect modulated infra-red lights. This makes it possible for parked cars to warn other moving vehicles against hidden people. This is done by modulated infra-red lights located at the rear of the parked car. For the covering abstract see ITRD E209471.
Abstract