Automatic breaking systems are predicted to save many lives and injuries in the future.
In this video Thatcham's Head of Research, Matthew Avery, explains how various ADAS (Advanced Driver Assist Systems) work and looks at their effectiveness in the real world.
Stereoscopic cameras (3D imaging to you and me), sensor fusion and LIDAR are all terms used here. Paint & Panel was a little fuzzy on exactly what these terms mean so here is some Wikipedia illumination below.
Sensor fusion is the combining of sensory data or data derived from sensory data from disparate sources such that the resulting information is in some sense better than would be possible when these sources were used individually. The term better in this case can mean more accurate, more complete, or more dependable, or refer to the result of an emerging view, such as stereoscopic vision (calculation of depth information by combining two-dimensional images from two cameras at slightly different viewpoints).
LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging, also LADAR) is an optical remote sensing technology that can measure the distance to, or other properties of a target by illuminating the target with light, often using pulses from a laser.