AUTOMATED VEHICLE OBJECT DETECTION SYSTEM WITH CAMERA IMAGE AND RADAR DATA FUSION

An object detection system (10) for an automated vehicle includes a radar (22), a camera (24), and a controller (26). The radar (22) detects a cluster (36) of targets (32) characterized by a radar-distance (38) (x) from a host-vehicle (12). The camera (24) renders an image of an object (18) and a lane-marking (30) present in the area (34). The controller (26) is configured to determine an equation(42) that is a function of a longitudinal-distance (46) from the host-vehicle (12) and corresponds to the lane-marking (30), determine a first-optical-angle (52) (theta) based on a first-image-distance between a reference-point on the object (18) and a spot on the image indicated by the equation (42) where the longitudinal-distance (46) is equal to the radar-distance (38), determine a lateral-distance (60) (Dist_LM) between the object (18) and the lane-marking (30) based on the first-optical-angle (52) and the radar-distance (38), and determine a first-lateral-offset (62) (y RM ) between theobject (18) and a longitud