In this paper, we propose a new binocular stereo correspondence method by maximizing a fitness formulated by integrating two constraints of edge similarity and disparity smoothness simultaneously. The proposed stereopsis focusing to measure distances to leading vehicles on roads uses intensity gradients as matching attribute. In contrast to the previous work of area-based stereo matching, in which matching unit is a pixel, the matching unit of the proposed method becomes an area itself which is obtained by selecting a series of pixels enclosed by two pixels on the left and right boundaries of an object. This approach allows us to cope with real-time processing and to avoid window size selection problems arising from conventional area-based stereo.