To provide occupants of the vehicle with information about the vehicle's environment, a display in the vehicle may present a video generated by a virtual camera system from the perspective of a virtual camera fixed relative to the vehicle at a default position. The video may include imagery within a set field of view corresponding to the position of the virtual camera including a portion of the vehicle's surroundings and the vehicle's projected trajectory. Upon the vehicle performing a turn, the virtual camera will remain in the default position, such that the video will continue to provide imagery located within the set field of view.

At the same time, such information can be used to control the vehicle in order to avoid these objects, or minimize damage in the case of an unavoidable collision. Thus, detection, identification, and prediction are critical functions for the safe operation of autonomous vehicle.

This technology generally relates to adjusting a virtual camera's orientation when a vehicle is making a turn. One or more computing devices may receive the vehicle's original heading prior to making the turn and the vehicle's current heading. Based on the vehicle's original heading and the vehicle's current heading, the one or more computing devices may determine an angle of a turn the vehicle is performing. The one or more computing devices may determine a camera rotation angle and adjust the virtual camera's orientation relative to the vehicle to an updated orientation by rotating the virtual camera by the camera rotation angle. A video corresponding to the virtual camera's updated orientation may be generated by the one or more computing devices and displayed on a display.