US Patent 8130120 Parking assistance device

A parking assistance device includes a guiding unit to perform guidance of a vehicle to a parking initial position from which the vehicle can be parked into a parking space located adjacent to and on a far side of an object existing around the vehicle with respect to a running direction of the vehicle; an obstacle detecting unit to detect an obstacle around the vehicle in response to a reflected wave of a wave emitted from the vehicle in a predetermined direction; and a timing setting unit configured to set a timing to start the guidance in response to a detection result of the obstacle detecting unit, which is related to an obstacle existing in a predetermined distance from the object in the parking space.