A target recognition apparatus that improves a recognition rate of a target by
emphasizing vertical components of picked-up images, even if the target has a round
shape of which the edges are is difficult to extract. The target recognition apparatus
carries out the following processes. It compresses two images that have been simultaneously
picked up with a left camera and a right camera that are mounted on a vehicle,
in a lateral direction respectively. It detects both ends of the target in the
two images, based on gradations of pixels in the images that have been compressed
in this lateral direction. It measures a distance to the target, based on a parallax
of the both detected ends of the target. A searching area of a target can be set
based on the images compressed in a lateral direction.