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Traditional tread depth measurements require manual utilization of a mechanical device to acquire measurements at each location of interest on a tire. Drive-over machine-vision sensors are becoming available as a means for measuring tread depth. These sensors typically consist of a laser and a camera contained in an environmentally-sealed sensor housing. Tires approach the sensor over the supporting surface, while a laser projects an illuminating line across the tread surface for capture in a digital image. This scan is evaluated to provide a single 2D contour of tread depth at the illuminated line. Advanced machine-vision sensors acquire a sequence of images, which results in a multitude of data points over a 3D region of the tread surface. Post-processing of the acquired images illustrates the observed tread pattern and establishes multiple tread depth measurements.