Introduction

This chapter introduces the notion of 3D images, which are now well known to the public through the animated films of Pixar, and also 3D vision, for which stereoscopic glasses are required when watching movies, such as James Cameron’s Avatar and its sequels. It also introduces various 3D visual conflicts, such as those between the human eyeHuman eye’s accommodation and binocular vision, and the importance of other cues for the correct visual perception of distances, such as motion parallax. This latter is provided, for example, by head-tracking devices that are used with 3D VR helmets. This chapter further aims to bring to the reader’s attention the combination of these visual cues and their coordination with other vestibular and kinesthetic perceptual cues, which contribute to cybersickness. A short description of driving simulation is provided, which allows 3D immersive technology to be linked to driving and its use for self-driving, an emerging technology that in 2022 led to the advent of commercially available autonomous vehicles. The technologies required for driving simulation, namely virtual reality and augmented reality, are not only used to validate and verify connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) systems but also integrated as onboard systems for in-vehicle infotainment and driver comfort. They may allow also for the avoidance of self-driving sickness, an already well-known symptom of car sickness experienced by automobile passengers. Finally, the following questions are also briefly examined: Why are autonomous vehicles only being proposed now, yet various large-scale experiments and demonstrations were presented all throughout the second half of the previous century, with hundreds of thousands of tested miles covered by automobile OEMs (e.g., Daimler) more than 30 years ago? Why is self-driving being proposed now? Is it for the sake of enhanced road safety and comfort, or is it a question of the advent of economically and technically mature technologies? Indeed, cameras, motion sensors, display, vision, and control systems, with the corresponding micro-electromechanical (MEM) systems, are also massively used in 3D immersion technology. All of these technologies are expected to foster the general use of autonomous vehicles and metaverses, with an overall social transformation of mobility and immersion, in a world controlled by big data and AI, thereby shaping our incoming future.