The Audi that sees for you

No, this isn't going to be the car that drives the blind (yet), but Audi's currently testing a new prototype system equipped with what they call an anticipatory optical proximity sensor system—a real fancy way of saying the car can
"see" and has depth perception—using something called Photonic Mixer Devices (PMD), which are kind of like diodes mounted near the rear-view mirror that can tell what's going on outside the car. The ultimate goal is assistive driving, of course; reduced collisions are one benefit, since if the car gets too close to an object, say, during bumper to bumper traffic, it will slow or stop accordingly. It'll make short work of even the most daunting parallel parking spots. And if you've ever driven in New York, you know how desperate drivers are to solve both those problems in short order.