20-storey robotic cylinders of Volkswagens

Cory Doctorow 7:26 am Thu May 11, 2006

Volkswagen has a fully automated garage made of 20-storey-tall towers in Wolfsburg, Germany. These photos make it appear to be some kind of egg-chamber for the Queen VW to stash her larvae in before they hatch into marauding auo-duellists. Which is to say that it's really quite lovely. When cars are ordered, they are robotically fetched down for delivery: "In a fully automated procedure, your new car is brought down to you from one of the 20-story Car Towers. Large signboards in the Customer Center show you when your turn has come. Then, you're handed the keys, your picture is taken, the glass doors open and your brand-new car appears. You're all set to go."

Link

(via Gizmodo)

Update: Rusty sez, "This reminds me a lot of a restaurant called Aureole in the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas that has a four-story wall of wine. Once you order, an acrobat ('wine angel') scales the giant wall to get your bottle. It's inspired by a scene in Mission Impossible."

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