In obstacle detection apparatus and method for an automotive vehicle, an image fetching section fetches a situation of a forward detection zone in a form of an image, a noticeable object outputting section outputs a positional information of an object to be noticeable for the vehicle, and an image processing section performs an image processing for a region of the image fetching section on the basis of an output of the noticeable object outputting section to detect the object, the image processing section including a first technique mainly to detect the position of the object and a second technique mainly to track the object, the second technique detecting the object when the object detection by means of the first technique becomes not enabled to be carried out.