It's the world most complex model railway with cars (not just trains) that go around in predetermined routes, and also go to the charging station when their battery is low. And I guess Waymos are a version of that but with human-scale! (Oh they still need humans to plug the charging cables into them).
I wonder if they park themselves or if the maintenance people park them...
That art fixture's placement at the Mission Waymo Depot is kinda cool. It's evocative of a future in which humanity lives a life of indolence propped up by automation.
I don't think the goal is indolence. The goal is freedom. We want a post-need society propped up by automation. That doesn't mean that we should spend our reclaimed time idling, though, but certainly we could.
Looks like it's GAIA by Marco Cochrane, I remember seeing it out in the desert. It looks like it might not be related to Waymo and just on the adjacent property
Seeing all these Waymos together like this... is depressing. You get a sense of the scale at which machines are replacing humans. This could be a scary movie made in 1970s about the robotic future... and that future has now arrived. What will the world look like 10, 20 years from now? What would a scary movie made today contain?
Could you please review and follow the site guidelines? "Oh, who cares." is not an ok way to respond to someone's work on HN, and is particularly bad when a thread is just getting underway.
"Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something."
(of course I understand that it's disappointing when you're hoping for certain content and end up with something else, but still - please don't express that in a hostile way)
If you like that sort of thing, see "AGV Garden".[1]
(This is the port of Rotterdam, ten years ago. Sped up about 3x. Most big ports look like that now. Automated driving works really well when all those pesky humans are out of the way.)
Very neat. I recently went to the Waymo depot in Bayshore (Toland St) and snapped a couple of pictures of the new Zeekrs for Wikipedia.
[1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Waymo_Zeekr_Vehicle_...
[2] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Waymo_Zeekr_Vehicle_...
How did you get in?
These were parked on Hudson Ave, which is a public street, and not inside the fenced area of the depot. So I just walked up to them.
Makes me think of Miniatur Wunderland's "self-charging" system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC8aOLWR134
It's the world most complex model railway with cars (not just trains) that go around in predetermined routes, and also go to the charging station when their battery is low. And I guess Waymos are a version of that but with human-scale! (Oh they still need humans to plug the charging cables into them).
I wonder if they park themselves or if the maintenance people park them...
Also, the footage feels like Satellite Reign https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFZVXG0g40Q (or the original game, Syndicate Wars)
That art fixture's placement at the Mission Waymo Depot is kinda cool. It's evocative of a future in which humanity lives a life of indolence propped up by automation.
I don't think the goal is indolence. The goal is freedom. We want a post-need society propped up by automation. That doesn't mean that we should spend our reclaimed time idling, though, but certainly we could.
Looks like it's GAIA by Marco Cochrane, I remember seeing it out in the desert. It looks like it might not be related to Waymo and just on the adjacent property
Thanks, I was assuming it was the same artist as the one at the Embarcadero, and that seems to be right.
I had to look up indolence. At least for the time being im not indolent enough not to look up such things I suppose.
Gave me a new appreciation for the scale of the investment /bet that is being made on transportation of the future.
If anybody is wondering, the music in this video appears to be "Alonia" by Valante. Very soothing.
Thank you, I was about to start searching for it :) !
Very interesting to see the workers in yellow presumably cleaning and manually plugging in the cars to charge.
Great clips and editing. New perspective on the scale of self driving cars deployed currently.
Getting Bladerunner vibes from several things but mostly that giant translucent synthwave Marco Cochrane statue.
This is cool and soothing. Merry xmas
Watch the Zoox test vehicles please. They do absolutely terrifying things, _in every encounter_.
Seeing all these Waymos together like this... is depressing. You get a sense of the scale at which machines are replacing humans. This could be a scary movie made in 1970s about the robotic future... and that future has now arrived. What will the world look like 10, 20 years from now? What would a scary movie made today contain?
I would make a movie about UBI recipients wearing shock collars that are supervised by Optimus robots and pluck almonds or apples.
Perhaps we need a euphemism for UBI: Let's call it "level-1 rich".
There are also neighborhood self-help groups who try to "stack" the Waymos into alleys so that they can sleep:
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/25/us/santa-monica-waymo-bat...
That would drive me insane, they have my sympathy.
https://archive.is/KvK7D
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Most of it is not drone, but you have to think a bit about the angle and duration to realize this. Merry Christmas
I took the time to figure out where you took the shots from. You were not kidding about risk, especially for 201 Toland, Jesus Christ.
Could you please review and follow the site guidelines? "Oh, who cares." is not an ok way to respond to someone's work on HN, and is particularly bad when a thread is just getting underway.
"Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something."
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
(of course I understand that it's disappointing when you're hoping for certain content and end up with something else, but still - please don't express that in a hostile way)
You changed my life with considerate moderation like this, so thank you for all that you do, thank you for keeping the ship on course.
I actually quite liked it, was somehow soothing, especially the car park that was used as a temporary location during the night.
If you like that sort of thing, see "AGV Garden".[1]
(This is the port of Rotterdam, ten years ago. Sped up about 3x. Most big ports look like that now. Automated driving works really well when all those pesky humans are out of the way.)
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm_rlLyelQo&
It isn't what you were expecting-- but it's really good. Give it another look with no expectations.