Take a ride in one of Waymo’s fully driverless minivans with this 360-degree video

Waymo continues to lay the groundwork for its commercial robot taxi service in Phoenix, releasing a video today with a 360-degree look inside of one of the company’s fully driverless minivans. It’s part of the Google spinoff’s public education campaign to raise awareness around a technology that remains inaccessible — and even a little scary — to most people.

The Arizona Department of Transportation recently greenlit Waymo’s application to operate as a transportation network in the state, a crucial step as it readies its ride-hailing service that will compete directly with Uber. But before it can launch, it needs to assure a wary public that self-driving cars can safely navigate through complex urban and suburban environments. And that means offering a short lesson in the technology and sensing equipment that underpins autonomous driving.

In the video, the narrator offers a brief tutorial on the types of sensors used by Waymo — LIDAR, radar, and high-definition cameras — and the range of these sensors. The information is pretty light on technical details since it is aimed at a general audience. And the 360-degree feature is meant to mimic the full scope of the minivan’s sensing power. It’s a snapshot of the kind of smoothed-out and distilled sensing data that Waymo displays on the screens inside its vehicles for passengers to watch during their rides.

Also noteworthy are the number of left turns Waymo’s minivans can be seen making in the video. Last year, a report in The Information detailed the company’s difficulty in perfecting left turns, especially “unprotected” left turns without a green arrow traffic signal. These problems were particularly pronounced after the vehicles received software updates, sources told The Information. But in the video, the minivans are filmed making several effortless left turns, though a Waymo spokesperson said their inclusion in the video was not a conscious decision.

Certainly more attention-grabbing is the view from inside one of Waymo’s fully driverless minivans as it cruises down an Arizona street. Waymo says nothing was edited in these scenes, beyond minor color and brightness tweaks, and while there was a hidden person in the car for filming purposes, they did not touch the vehicle controls or do any of the driving.

Public confidence in its technology is doubly important for Waymo because the company is aiming to be the first to invite regular people into its fully driverless cars without any human safety drivers. Last year, the company launched an advertising campaign in Arizona in partnership with nonprofits like Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the National Safety Council.

It will probably take more than a few ads and a slickly produced 360-degree video to make most people feel safe enough to hop in the backseat of a minivan with no one behind the wheel, but Waymo obviously believes that a picture is worth a thousand words.

Waymo is also announcing a new milestone: 5 million autonomous miles traveled on public roads. The company notes that it took six years to rack up 1 million miles, another six months to reach 4 million miles, and just three months to hit the 5 million marker. “Today we’re driving as many miles in one day as the average American adult drives in a whole year,” a spokesperson said.