An object (50') in a visual scene (24) is detected responsive to one or more void regions (122) in an associated range-map image (80) generated from associated stereo image components (40.1, 40.2). In one aspect, each element (114) of a valid-count vector (114') contains a count of a total number of valid range values (106) at a corresponding column position (98) from a plurality of rows (94.1, 94.2, 94.3) of the range-map image (80). The valid-count vector (114'), or a folded version thereof (116'), is filtered, and an integer approximation thereof (118') is differentiated so as to provide for identifying one or more associated void regions (122, 122.1, 122.2) along the plurality (Q) of rows (94) of the range-map image. For each void region (122), the image pixels (100) of an associated prospective near-range object (50') are identified as corresponding to one or more modes (138, 138.1, 138.2) of a histogram (132) providing a count of image pixels (100) with respect to image pixel intensity (136), for image pixels (100) from one of the stereo image components (40.1, 40.2) within the void region (130).
STEREO-VISION OBJECT DETECTION SYSTEM AND METHOD