A Day in San Francisco, Between Worlds

Manoj Mittal

Sep 1

7 min read

Updated: 6 days ago

I have been driving for four decades. In all that time, I never seriously imagined a car that could drive itself without a human hand on the wheel. As a science student, I had wondered if it might someday be possible, under very controlled conditions.

On 19 July 2026, in San Francisco, I realised I had been thinking too small.

But I am getting ahead of myself. The day began with a hike.

Land’s End

We started around 9 AM from San Jose, where I was staying with my daughter Trisha and son-in-law Rohan. The plan was ambitious: hike at Land’s End, take a driverless cab to Pier 39, and see where the day took us.

It took about 45 minutes to reach the Land’s End visitor centre.

As we approached San Francisco, dark clouds hung low over the hills. The windshield was wet, and it looked as though rain might spoil our plans. But when we stepped out, there was no rain—just a sharp wind blowing in from the Pacific. I quickly needed a jacket. San Francisco can feel remarkably cooler and windier than San Jose, even in July. Interestingly, I have learnt that the fog in San Francisco is affectionately called "Karl the Fog" by San Franciscans.

Land’s End is where San Francisco meets the Pacific. Cliffs, restless water and an endless horizon make it feel less like a destination and more like a threshold—the point where the land simply gives way to something much larger.

The trail winds through cypress trees and along rugged cliffs, passing the haunting ruins of the Sutro Baths, the Victorian-era public bathhouse built by a wealthy businessman and former mayor of San Francisco Adolph Sutro in 1894. What was once an massive public swimming complex has been quietly reclaimed by nature. There is something strangely beautiful about that. It is hard to imagine how water from the Pacific was once pumped through such an ingenious and sophisticated system. It sits between the Pacific Ocean and the cliffs of Land's End.

Further along, the trail climbs towards Eagle Point, about 70 metres above the Baths. After roughly two miles, the views open up dramatically—the Golden Gate Bridge framed by the Marin Headlands and the Pacific.

It is an easy-to-moderate hike, but there is history here too. Long before San Francisco became a city, this landscape was home to the Ohlone peoples, who had lived around the Bay Area for thousands of years.

And then there is also the Golden Gate Bridge which is actually not golden.

For a structural engineer like me, it is never simply scenery.

Opened in 1937, its 1,280-metre main span was the world’s longest suspension-bridge span until 1964. It was built on a remarkably unforgiving site: strong winds, cold deep water, dense fog, seismic activity, difficult foundations and a busy shipping channel that could never simply be closed.

Yet the structural idea is beautifully simple: foundation, tower, main cable, suspenders and deck. Everything else follows from that clarity.

Standing there on a misty July morning, with parts of the bridge disappearing into the clouds, I appreciated it not only as an engineering achievement but as something that genuinely belongs to its landscape.

And why is it called the Golden Gate Bridge when it is clearly orange?

Because it crosses the Golden Gate Strait—the entrance to San Francisco Bay from the Pacific. The colour is officially called International Orange, chosen partly because it remains visible in fog.

There it stood that morning, proving the point.

It was Sunday, and the trail was lively with walkers, joggers and families. We reached Eagle Point after about two miles. From there, the full panorama opens up—the Golden Gate, Marin Headlands and Pacific in one sweep.

The trail continues towards China Beach, Baker Beach and eventually the bridge itself. We decided to stop at Eagle Point.

We had another experience waiting. And this one had me genuinely curious.

The Waymo

Rohan and Trisha booked a Waymo One for our ride to Pier 39, about nine miles away.

Waymo, owned by Alphabet, operates fully autonomous, driverless taxis in San Francisco. You book it through the app, much like Uber.

Except there is no driver.

The cars use cameras, LiDAR, radar and other sensors to read the road in real time—vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, traffic lights and road conditions.

In San Francisco, Waymo uses Jaguar I-PACE electric SUVs. From a distance, they look like ordinary cars. Up close, the sensors on the roof and cameras around the body make them look like something between a taxi and a science-fiction prop. Waymo is also operational in few other cities of USA.

Inside, it is surprisingly normal. Comfortable seats, a screen showing the route, music playing softly.

And a steering wheel that moves by itself.

There is a driver’s seat, but no driver.

Rohan and Trisha put me in the front seat. I pressed Start Ride and the car smoothly joined the traffic.

What followed was a 40-minute journey through San Francisco’s winding streets, steep gradients and busy intersections.

Waymo handled everything with quiet deliberateness. It slowed early for pedestrians, yielded patiently at junctions and changed lanes without hesitation .

It wasn’t a nervous machine. If anything, it seemed more disciplined than many human drivers I have shared the road with.

Sitting in the front seat, with no one beside me, I watched the steering wheel turn on its own, waiting for some feeling of unease to set in.

It took a while to settle into the thought that this was real—and safe.

It was, indeed, no gimmick. It was functional, composed, and quietly becoming part of the ordinary life of the city.

As the waterfront came into view, one thought settled in:

This is not what the future will look like. This is what the future already looks like—in certain cities, on certain streets, on a Sunday in July.

And, to answer the obvious question, it costs no more than a regular taxi.

Pier 39

We reached Pier 39 around 1 PM.

Piers are series of structures extending into San Francisco Bay along the Embarcadero. They are numbered. They were built gradually from the Gold Rush era onwards around 1850 to load and unload cargo. Pier 39 is newest and most popular.

The fog had cleared, the sun was out, and the waterfront was packed.

It happened to be the day of the FIFA World Cup 2026 final—Argentina versus Spain, being played in New Jersey. A large screen had been set up at the pier, and hundreds of people were watching with food and coffee in hand.

An already busy waterfront had turned into something resembling an open-air festival.

The smell of seafood was everywhere. Rohan ordered fish and coffee, and we found a spot to settle down.

Then there were the sea lions.

They have been coming to the floating docks of pier 39 since 1990.

Dozens sprawled across the docks, occasionally sliding into the water before hauling themselves back up. Their barking is surprisingly loud. With so many of them together, the waterfront becomes cheerfully cacophonous.

And yes, they are sea lions, not seals. The easiest giveaway is their visible external ear flaps.

Adult males can weigh several hundred kilograms while females weigh much less.

Pier 39 at waterfront was a different world altogether- bustling, playful and full of life.

The Second Waymo—and an Unplanned Detour

We booked Waymo again for the return to Land’s End as our car was parked there at Visitor Center's parking.

This time I was considerably more relaxed. Less a first-time passenger, more a returning one. The route was slightly different, but the confidence was noticeably greater.

Midway through the ride, Rohan suggested something unexpected:

Why not visit UC Berkeley?

He had done a summer internship there during his engineering studies and knew the campus. Berkeley was about 30 minutes northeast, across the Bay.

It was exactly the sort of unplanned addition that makes a day memorable.

Even during the summer break, the university was not truly empty. Students of different nationalities, cultures and ethnicities could be seen around the campus—in the cafés and along the streets—bringing back memories of my own student years. We walked around and stopped at Sather Tower, popularly known as the Campanile—a 94-metre bell tower housing a carillon of 61 bells.

The university is about 158 years old. The tower came 46 years after its founding, almost as an afterthought.

Most of the campus buildings have Beaux-Arts/ Classical architectural character. They have classical symmetry and monumental proportions, colonades, arches & grand staircases. Many buildings have stone & stucco facades. Ornamental details are mostly inspired by Greek & Roman architecture. The whole campus looks grand and scenic.

We stopped for coffee at Qargo Coffee near the campus—Italian-style, using Lavazza beans. Students with laptops and notebooks filled the tables. Sipping my coffee, I was wondering what it must feel like to be a student at this prestigious university.

It was a brief visit, but enough to feel the weight of the place.

Home

We left for San Jose in the evening, with Trisha driving.

The roads were clear, and Google took us along a scenic route—hills, trees and long shadows falling quickly across the slopes as the sun went down.

We were tired, but in the good way. Full of images and conversations that had not yet completely settled in our minds.

The kind of tiredness that tells you the day was well used.

Four decades of driving, and this one day had added something I hadn’t anticipated—not just a new technology, but a new way of thinking about what it means to move through a city.

Land’s End in the morning.

The Golden Gate in the mist.

Sea lions and football at Pier 39.

A ghost-steered car navigating winding streets.

A bell tower at Berkeley in the quiet of summer.

The land ends at Land’s End.

But the day, it turned out, had quite a way to go.

MANOJ MITTAL - September 5 , 2026 | NOIDA