Waymo's 360-degree demo ride shows what self-driving cars 'see'
One of the big steps necessary to roll out self-driving cars is getting the public to trust them , and Waymo's latest attempt to achieve that is with a new 360-degree experience . Viewable on a computer, your phone or a VR headset, it feeds a simulation of mixed video and sensor data (LiDAR, radar and cameras) from one of the company's Pacifica Hybrid minivans to give you a feeling of what it "sees" while driving along. For many people, this is the first time they'll be able to experience a ride in a self-driving car, and perhaps begin to trust that it's at least as attentive as human drivers. The Alphabet (and formerly Google) company has big plans to launch a taxi service this year with thousands of these vans, and 360-degree video provides a preview of what it will be like. After taking five years to accumulate one million miles driven, Waymo says its cars have racked up a million in the last three months (to with 2.7 billion virtual miles last year)...