One currently popular type of safety tech is the collision-avoidance system. These systems go by various names, depending on the automaker, but all of them use some combination of cameras and radar to help prevent crashes. In some cases, the car can take over completely for a short time, braking the car to a safe speed or even a complete stop if necessary.

In other situations, these systems can be used as part of the cruise-control system, allowing a driver to program in a safe following distance, with the computers doing the rest.

There are also blind-spot monitoring systems that alert drivers to the presence of other vehicles in their blind spots and rear cross-traffic detection systems that alert drivers to cross-traffic before they back out of driveways and parking spaces. And let's not forget lane-departure warning systems, which alert wandering drivers when they're about to cross into the next lane unexpectedly, and park-assist systems and rearview cameras that are meant to keep drivers from playing bumper cars while parking.

All these components will likely one day be used to help cars become partially or fully autonomous, and at least for now, these features are in high consumer demand, according to Automotive News.

"Initially, Europe was the primary market, especially for adaptive cruise control," Kay Stepper, chief of Robert Bosch's regional business unit for driver assistance systems and automated driving, told AN. "But that is quickly changing. We have a fast-growing market in North America as well."

Suppliers like Bosch, Delphi, Denso and TRW all stand to gain from the increase in demand of these features, both as consumers opt to order them in current models and as levels of autonomous driving increase in the coming years.

Since these sensors will almost certainly form the building blocks of autonomous cars, it's clear that we'll be doing less of our own driving, even when we're behind the wheel.

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