Under $1,000 would be the difficult part unless you're willing to go with near-IR systems which have a shorter range or require active IR illumination like the type you can get with the digital camcorders, some security cameras and back-up cameras.

The system in GM cars uses an adapted military system by Raytheon and the BMW/Mercedes system is from VDO. These are mid to long wave IR systems which, in simple terms, work by detecting heat emitted by objects.

Technology is evolving pretty quickly in night vision technologies fueled by "wartime" budgets so you'll start to see more of these systems and they'll get cheaper as it trickles down to consumers.

Currently, cooled units work with a much longer range than uncooled units but those cameras are still pretty expensive. So basically longer range = bigger price tag.

Here's a site to check out cameras: http://www.ir55.com/