Patent attributes
A road surface area detection device includes a normalized speed calculation portion configured to calculate a normalized speed based on a movement of a feature point in an image captured by a camera that is disposed in a vehicle; a determination range calculation portion configured to calculate a road surface determination range, which is indicated by a magnitude of the normalized speed, based on the normalized speeds of at least two feature points at different positions in a width direction of the vehicle in a predetermined central area where the vehicle is positioned in a center thereof in the width direction perpendicular to a vehicle traveling direction; and a road surface area identification portion configured to identify, as a road surface area on which the vehicle travels, a position in the width direction that includes the feature point whose normalized speed is within the road surface determination range.
