Pedestrian Detection with Night Vision Systems Enhanced by Automatic Warnings

Abstract

Pedestrian detection using far-infrared (FIR) and near-infrared (NIR) night vision systems was compared in this experiment, combined with automatic warnings at one of two distances (150 m and 75 m) or no warning at all. Sixteen subjects (eight younger than 30 years and eight older than 60 years) pressed a button as soon as they saw a pedestrian on a night vision system in the center console of a vehicle simulator. In addition, they performed a concurrent simulated steering task that required almost continuous viewing of the forward scene, similar to real driving. The automatic visual warning was a blue rectangle that zoomed in on the pedestrian in the video display. When the warning was presented 150 m ahead of the pedestrian, detection distance and accuracy for both night vision systems increased, but the effects were more prominent for the NIR system. In the 75 m condition, automatic warnings improved performance with NIR but worsened performance with FIR, possibly because in some trials subjects waited for the automatic warning before responding. Overall, automatic visual warnings based on image processing were effective in increasing accuracy and detection distance for pedestrians except when short-distance warnings were used with the FIR system.