External-environment-recognizing apparatus

The objective of the present invention is to obtain an external environment-recognizing apparatus with which it is possible to obtain detection results having a necessary accuracy when a plurality of target objects from a captured image are detected. This external-environment-recognizing apparatus has: a plurality of processing units for processing an image; a recognition application-storing unit for storing, by object type, a plurality of recognition applications for recognizing an object by processing using at least one processing unit among the plurality of processing units; an external-information-acquiring unit for acquiring external information that includes at least external environmental information or vehicle behavior information; and a selecting unit for selecting at least one recognition application from the recognition-application-storing unit and for selecting a processing unit among the plurality of processing units for processing the selected recognition application on the basis of the external