Summary form only given. The aim of the APVRU project is to develop a sensor system capable of detecting a pedestrian (or other vulnerable road user) and to distinguish vulnerable road users from the road environment. This sensor system may eventually provide the technological link between detection and a driver warning system or activation of a suitable safety system on the exterior of the vehicle. The sensor system that is currently under development comprises radar units to determine the range and bearing of an object. Infra-red sensors then determine whether or not the object is a vulnerable road user by analysing the size, shape, position and distribution of the infra-red image. The information regarding the relative position of the vulnerable road user, as well as information on the car's speed, will be processed using algorithms that will decide when an active safety system should or should not deploy.