A Cost-Effective Driver-Assistance System in Nighttime

A nighttime driver-assistance system is developed in this study. Through lane detection, neighboring vehicle detection, lane deviation detection, and front vehicle distance estimation of real-time road images retrieved using a charge-coupled device camera, the developed system can issue timely alarms to warn drivers and increase their driving safety at nighttime. In lane detection, the developed system employs clear edge information and lane orientation, and performs edge operations and lane marking using Hough Transform. Vehicle detection is performed by recognizing vehicle characteristics (e.g., tail lights and symmetry) and colors. The front vehicle distance is estimated by counting the number of lane segments. The experimental results of numerous highway image tests show that the developed system can effectively facilitate safe driving in a common environment.