Layers of detection systems collect far more data — from 360 degrees around the car — than a human driver could absorb.

Lidar detectors, which use a pulsed laser to measure the distance between things, are mounted on the front and rear bumpers and just ahead of the side-view mirrors on either side. It’s also in the dome, along with a high-resolution camera with a 360-degree field of view. Because it’s a color camera, things like traffic lights, yellow school buses, construction-zone cones and flashing lights on emergency vehicles show up. That’s supplemented with radar sensors on the four corners and top of the car.

Together, they picked up the man in the straw hat, several passing bicyclists, a row of traffic cones and changing traffic lights. The van also successfully negotiated a roundabout and dealt with three what-if scenarios during media day at the test sight.