A method for recognizing the shape of an object outside of a transportation vehicle, wherein a respective image is generated at at least two different measurement time points and at least one scanline is specified in a first one of the images and a corresponding scanline is specified in each other of the images, and for each scanline of the first image, a profile resulting along the scanline is determined and a corresponding profile is determined along the respective corresponding scanline of each other image, and by comparing the profile of each scanline of the first image to the respective corresponding profile of each other image a respective displacement distance resulting between the measurement time points of characteristic regions is determined, and a distinction is made of each characteristic region between object and background based on the determined displacement distance.