A Review of Automotive Infrared Pedestrian Detection Techniques

In automotive design, safety remains a growing priority. Recently focus has extended beyond the occupants of the vehicle and turned towards other Vulnerable Road Users (VRU). Simple night vision systems have already become an important safety feature in modern high end automobiles. The next generation of advanced driver assistance systems will automate the detection of VRUs, to improve safety further by not distracting the driver’s attention from the road ahead, and even identifying dangerous situations where the driver may not. We present a review of the state of the art image processing techniques for automatic detection and classification of VRUs in automotive far infrared imagery.