Freedom to Roll: Skate Hunnies & Beyond the Board See A Safer Future with Waymo in LA
Every Thursday night in Los Angeles, they grab their wheels of choice, put on music, and glide along the beaches of Santa Monica or Venice wearing a a mashup of neon, fanny packs, street wear, and bikinis.
This is Skate Hunnies, a community that regularly draws 50 or more people to its legendary Thursday Night Skates.
When Jen Yonda decided to organize the group in 2020, she wasn’t sure anyone would show up. Now, it's the largest roller and inline skating community in LA.
What draws these rolling souls together, Jen said, is a shared love of movement and sense of freedom.
“Unlike walking, when I'm skating, I'm flowing and I'm rolling and I'm just going freely through the world,” Jen said. “It feels like dancing.”
That feeling of freedom can turn into fear in an instant when distracted, reckless, or impaired driving puts skaters at risk. People outside of vehicles, including skaters, skateboarders, pedestrians, and cyclists, are some of the most vulnerable road users (VRUs), accounting for more than half of all road deaths worldwide.
Just last year, Skate Hunnies lost a fellow skater to a hit and run.
“It was really difficult and it's heartbreaking that people have to be afraid for their lives on the street here,” Jen said. “It doesn't have to be that way.”
Jen and a group of inline and rollerskaters and skateboarders from the nonprofit Beyond the Board recently met up to ride beside Waymo, which operates a 24/7 autonomous ride-hailing service in LA, and see for themselves how the technology can make the road safer for VRUs.
Skaters and skateboarders take to the streets in LA with a Waymo autonomous vehicle behind them.
Brandon DesJarlais, founder of Beyond the Board, said that while he loves skateboarding in LA, he feels unsafe boarding on or near the city’s roads.
“You always have to look over your shoulder because even if you have the right of way, the unfortunate truth is that so many people are looking at their phone,” Brandon said. “You really notice this when you're on any sort of skateboard or bike and you're looking around, and you're like, wow, nobody's paying attention to me here, so it can be really scary.”
In contrast, Waymo’s technology is designed to be constantly vigilant, obey road rules like speed limits, and drive with safety of all road users in mind. Waymo’s passenger screen displays when it can see roller bladers or skaters in its 360-degree vision system using unique icons. It also broadcasts a signal on its LIDAR dome atop the vehicle when a passenger is expected to be boarding or exiting the vehicle.
Safe roads are vital to Brandon’s mission: creating safe spaces that bring people together through skateboarding, to inspire more joy and connection in the world.
Waymo and the Beyond the Board and Skate Hunnies crews gather in Los Angeles to celebrate skating, self-expression, and safe streets for all.
“For me, this whole organization and everything we do is just one small part of me wanting to build and create the world that I want to live in, and that I wish existed when I was younger,” said Brandon. “It's just you and your board, and the world is your open canvas.”
Brandon said that over the last four years, his nonprofit and its painted school bus, “The Shred Sled,” have traveled more than 50,000 miles around the country hosting more than 400 events with youth groups, summer camps, Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCAs, and existing skate communities.
“Our events range from free workshops, to big street takeovers that attract around 1,000 people,” Brandon said.
Brandon said sharing the road with Waymo gives him a sense that the car is paying attention and has him and his skateboard in sight.
“I personally love looking over my shoulder and seeing Waymo because I know that Waymo is always watching,” Brandon said. “It always gives us the right away and it gives us more buffer than any car ever does, so I feel really safe, and I think the whole group feels really safe.”
Brandon DesJarlais, founder of Beyond the Board, catches air between the colorful bus and a Waymo autonomous vehicle.
From bikes to roller skates, roller blades, skateboards and more, Jen said she sees Waymo as part of a world where people can feel safe getting from point A to point B using micromobility, turning the commute from a chore into an adventure.
“I’m so excited that Waymo is bringing safety to the streets in a way that we don't have to feel afraid to access that freedom [of skating], and that we can feel empowered.”
