The autonomous vehicle took a small step toward viability last week as General Motors announced that it used mass production techniques to finish a batch of 130 Chevy Bolt EVs containing self-driving technology.

The mass production technique involved the addition of cameras, Lidar and other sensors in an automated assembly plant in Orion Township, MI. It may or may not be a first for an autonomous car, but either way, industry observers expect the batch of Bolts to be followed by many more such efforts, from GM and its competitors. “This is what we’re going to be seeing during the next few years – finished vehicles coming off assembly lines with all the automated driving hardware built in already,” Sam Abuelsamid, research analyst for Navigant Research , told Design News .

The 130 new Bolts will join 50 self-driving Bolts released last year to such locales as San Francisco, metro-Detroit and Scottsdale, AZ. Industry experts also expect GM to produce as many as 1,000 more autonomous Bolts later this year or early next. Similarly, Waymo LLC (formerly known as the Google self-driving car project) said in April that it is adding 500 self-driving Chrysler Pacifica minivans to its fleets.

“We’re going to be seeing the same kinds of numbers – from dozens to hundreds to thousands over the next few years,” Abuelsamid said.

The introductions are part of a grand industry plan to roll out vehicles in the next few years that can pilot themselves without the need for on-board “safety drivers.” Today, all autonomous vehicles deployed in various regions of the country still have drivers on board who monitor the vehicle’s ability to handle given situations.

Most automakers plan to enable their vehicles to reach SAE Level 4 capability in the next five years or so. SAE Level 4 calls for full automation, which means a driver could doze off or even leave the front seat, but only in limited domains. Drivers would have to be able to intervene in certain situations, such heavy snowfall or rain, as specified by the manufacturer.

Last year, Ford Motor Co. stated that it plans to remove the driver controls from some of its cars by 2021. “That means there’s going to be no steering wheel,” former Ford CEO Mark Fields said last August. There’s not going to be a brake pedal and, of course, a driver is not going to be required.”

Abuelsamid predicted this week that other manufacturers may reach the “no controls” point before Ford. “Going forward, as we get to 2019 and 2020, we’re going to see some of the first vehicles built without driver controls,” he told us. Full Level 5 automation – in which the autonomous car can operate in any situation – may not come until 2030, however.

Abuelsamid said the announcements are a reflection of the auto industry’s growing confidence in self-driving technology. But he added that the technology’s ultimate success will depend on

The VR180 format, which displays what’s in front of the user only, delivers good video quality both on desktop PCs and mobile devices.

While VR180 videos appear in 2D on desktops and mobile devices, they appear in 3D VR when viewed with Cardboard, Google’s Daydream headset or Sony’s PlayStation VR headset.

Creators “don’t have to choose between making a 360 video and/or providing new content for their subscribers,” said Google spokesperson Liz Markman.

“It’s easy for creators to start producing VR videos since they won’t have to change up their filming style or production techniques,” she told TechNewsWorld. “There’s no need to think about what’s behind the camera.”

YouTube supports VR180, so it “works anywhere YouTube is,” Markman pointed out. VR180 also supports live-streaming videos.

Video creators can set up and film videos just like they would with any other camera. They can use their existing equipment, or eligible creators can apply to borrow a VR180-enabled camera from a YouTube Space in certain cities, including London, Paris and New York.

They soon will be able to edit the videos using familiar tools such as Adobe Premiere Pro.

Content creation issues aside, “VR headsets are still very intrusive and cumbersome,” observed Trip Chowdhry, managing director for equity research at Global Equities Research.

“The VR industry is still not ready to take off,” he told TechNewsWorld.

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