Humans are very good at estimating distance from a combination parallax visual cues and experience. We don't need to have seen a specific model of car before to judge how far away it is with a high level of accuracy.
Machine learning techniques are also being used to evaluate depth using parallax and other cues.
And humans aren't good at estimating distance. They're good at estimating relative distance which is different. Some people claim we need LIDAR because cameras can't give us accurate depth information but humans don't use accurate depth information.
Are you saying these systems need to have seen a specific model of car in the past before they can determine its distance? Certainly I've seen systems that do not require that information.
Reminds me how much I hate the average mirror. They force me to lost frontal depth by focusing on sides. I tried driving while looking aside for a minute, it's impressive how much your peripheral vision is meaningless then, even at 5mph you're never sure how far the car before you is.
Humans can drive well with vision in only one eye, so it seems like even binocular vision isn't necessarily as important as some of those cues and experience.
Humans are very good at estimating distance from a combination parallax visual cues and experience. We don't need to have seen a specific model of car before to judge how far away it is with a high level of accuracy.