Automotive technology is evolving at a seemingly breakneck pace. New vehicles are making their way to auto body shops and into the hands of an industry that is not quite prepared. Claims professionals must quickly get up to speed while gaining the knowledge to handle these new technologies in the event of a crash.

"Like it or not, the robots are slowly taking over a driver's chores," states Frank Rowsome, Jr. in a Popular Science Monthly article, "What It's Like to Drive an Auto-Pilot Car." While that statement seems timely, it is actually from the April 1958 issue. The arrival of the autonomous vehicle that captured Rowsome's imagination more than a half-century ago, appears to be within sight.

Much of the technology that will power tomorrow's self-driving vehicles is present in the collision mitigation and collision avoidance systems in today's newer vehicles. The radar, lidar, GPS, sensors and cameras providing input data to the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems will likewise provide input data in the autonomous vehicles to come. Of course, the self-driving vehicle may use "camera version 7.0," but it will be a camera all the same.