A driver assistance system with an architecture of general use for applications related to driver assistance, passenger safety and comfort and communication with external systems, e.g. for diagnosis and maintenance purposes, comprises (in one embodiment): a first interface for sensing external signals coming from the environment of a vehicle, a second interface for sensing internal signals of the vehicle, a first subsystem for fusing the output signals of the first interface and the second interface in order to generate a representation of the vehicle's environment, a second subsystem for modeling the current state of the vehicle being provided with the output signals of the first subsystem, a third subsystem for modeling the behavior of a driver, a fourth subsystem for interpreting the current scene represented by the first subsystem in order to determine characteristic states of the current external situation of the vehicle, and a fifth subsystem that generates stimuli for the actuators of the vehicle and/or the driver based on the output signals of the second, the third and the fourth subsystem.