A system and a corresponding method for sensing the driving environment of a vehicle, the system having a plurality of sensors for capturing objects in the area surrounding the vehicle. The system has a plurality of evaluation units, an evaluation unit being bijectively associated in each case with a specific sensor and being adapted for analyzing a measurement performed by the sensor using a sensor model and for creating a data object to describe a particular object captured by the sensor. In addition, at least one driving-environment modeling unit is provided that is linked to each evaluation unit and is adapted for computing a driving environment model to describe the environment of the vehicle on the basis of the data objects. An evaluation unit and the at least one driving-environment modeling unit are thereby designed in a way that makes the sensor model more complex than the driving environment model.