A method for locating a target (C) relative to a vehicle (V), the target including at least one three-dimensional external component (Cs) presenting a quadratic surface, the method being implemented by a computer and including capturing an image of the target comprising an area of interest in which the external component of the target is visible in the form of an elliptical contour, for each of a plurality of pixels of the area of interest in the image, calculating an intensity gradient of the image around the pixel, and determining, based on the intensity gradient, the parameters of a line presenting a direction normal to the gradient at the pixel, selecting, among the set of determined lines, a set of lines that are tangents to the elliptical contour, and estimating the parameters of the elliptical contour on the image based on the parameters of the tangents to the elliptical contour.