This paper presents a novel approach for detecting vehicles for driver assistance. Assuming flat

roads, vanishing point is first estimated using Hough transform space to reduce the

computational complexity. Localization of vehicles is carried using horizontal projection on the

horizontal gradient image below vanishing point. An uppermost and lowermost peak in the

horizontal profile corresponds to search space of vehicles. Binarization of search space on the

horizontal gradient image is done using Otsu algorithm. Verification of vehicles is carried

through a series of rule based classifiers constructed using statistical moments, observing peaks

in vertical profiling, vehicle texture, symmetry and shadow property. Experimentation was

carried out on flat highway roads and detection rate of vehicles is nearly found to be 88.23 -This paper presents a novel approach for detecting vehicles for driver assistance. Assuming flat

roads,　vanishing　point　is　first　estimated　using　Hough　transform　space　to　reduce　the

computational complexity. Localization of vehicles is carried using horizontal projection on the

horizontal　gradient image　below vanishing　point. An uppermost　and lowermost peak　　in the

horizontal profile corresponds to search space of vehicles. Binarization of search space on the

horizontal　gradient　image　is　done　using　Otsu　algorithm.　Verification　of　vehicles　is　carried

through a series of rule based classifiers constructed using statistical moments, observing peaks

in　vertical　profiling,　vehicle　texture,　symmetry　and　shadow　property.　Experimentation　was

carried out on flat highway roads and detection rate of vehicles is nearly found to be 88.23