TRAVELING ROAD SURFACE DETECTION DEVICE AND TRAVELING ROAD SURFACE DETECTION METHOD

An area specification unit specifies a road surface area, a stereoscopic object area, a road surface area, and an indeterminate area based on a parallax image. A parallax height specification unit specifies, as a parallax height area, an area including a parallax point with a height equal to or greater than a threshold value, the threshold value determined in advance from a height of a road surface in the indeterminate area. A traveling road surface detection unit detects, sequentially, from a part of the road surface closest to the vehicle to a part of the surface furthest from the vehicle, a road surface on which the vehicle can travel, as the road surface extends in a direction away from a vehicle on a captured image. The traveling road surface detection unit does not detect, as a road surface on which the vehicle can travel, any of the stereoscopic object area and the indeterminate area, and an area on the far side of the stereoscopic object area and the indeterminate area from the vehicle.