Beloved SF Cat’s Death Fuels Waymo Criticism

The death of a well-known neighbourhood bodega cat named Kit Kat has deeply affected residents of San Francisco’s Mission District, The New York Times reported.

Kit Kat was struck and killed by a Waymo robotaxi on the evening of October 27. Since then, residents have created a small memorial in his honour, filling the area with flowers, candles, and handwritten notes. Nearby, conflicting signs have appeared — some condemning Waymo’s driverless technology, while others highlight the far higher number of fatalities caused by human drivers.

Jackie Fielder, who represents the Mission District on San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, referenced Kit Kat during a debate on a proposed city resolution urging the state to allow local voters to decide whether autonomous vehicles should operate in their neighbourhoods.

“A human driver can be held accountable, can hop out, say sorry, can be tracked down by police if it’s a hit-and-run,” Fielder told the Times. “Here, there is no one to hold accountable.”

Waymo, whose co-CEO recently emphasised the company’s focus on safety at Disrupt, described the crash as an incident where a cat “darted under our vehicle as it was pulling away.” The company extended “deepest sympathies to the cat’s owner and the community who knew and loved him.”