Tyzx, the 3D vision company, today announced it has received a substantial investment from Takata, a global manufacturer of automotive safety systems. The Takata investment follows an earlier investment by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

Tyzx, building on more than 15 years of research at Harvard, Interval Research, MIT, and Stanford, has developed a platform of hardware, software and services for building affordable products that see and interact with the world in three dimensions.

Industry experts believe that vehicles with 3D vision safety features can help better protect drivers and passengers in collisions, help cars avoid accidents, keep vehicles in appropriate road lanes, and prevent many accidental backup injuries and fatalities, among other benefits. The European Union and Japan have already passed legislation mandating more "pedestrian friendly vehicles." Future regulations will require additional measures to prevent pedestrian injury and could drive the need for systems that incorporate vision technology as developed by Tyzx and Takata.