Abstract: A camera (17) mounted on a rear view minor housing (5) of a vehicle (1), which captures a plan view image of the ground on one side of the vehicle for display on an in-vehicle visual display unit (13) is calibrated to correct for offset of the camera (17) from an ideal position. During calibration an image of a reference point (34) on the vehicle (1) is captured as the mirror housing (5) is swiveled from a rest position to an operative position. The offset of the actual position of the image of the reference point in the captured image from its ideal position is computed, and a look-up table is prepared, which indicates the position at which pixels of subsequently captured image frames should be located to produce image frames with offset correction.

Abstract: An image vision system (8) for calibrating two cameras (17) mounted on respective side rear view mirror housings (5) of a motor vehicle (1) for correcting for offset of the cameras (17) from ideal positions relative to the vehicle (1). The cameras (17) capture plan view images of the ground on respective opposite sides of the vehicle for display as images (10,11) along with a plan view image (14) of the vehicle (1) on an in-vehicle visual display unit (13), for assisting a driver parking or manoeuvring the vehicle (1) in a confined space. Calibration of the cameras (17) is carried out as the side mirror housings (5) are swivelled from a rest position to an operative position in response to activation of the ignition system of the vehicle (1). The calibration requires determining the offset of the actual position of a reference point (34) on the vehicle (1) captured in an image by the corresponding camera (17) from the ideal position of the reference point (34a) in an ideal image frame.