TLDR: cat gets hit by AI car and dies
Death of beloved neighborhood cat sparks outrage against robotaxis in San Francisco
Submitted 4 months ago by supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/05/san-francisco-waymo-kitkat-cat-death
Comments
blinfabian@feddit.nl 4 months ago
GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 4 months ago
suchwin@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Seen a lot of half baked arguments.
I’ve been in the area and met this cat. First off, this cat started as a stray, and found its way to the corner store that took it in and adopted it for all intents and purposes. Its lived in the same spot for many years, and had always been an exceptionally chill cat. Painting him as a typical outdoor cat is disingenuous and uninformed.
KitKat has been safe and sound for so long without any issues. There’s gotta be literally millions of cars that have driven past in his residency on 16th in the Mission district of SF. And the only time he gets hit is by a waymo? All these human drivers, so many of them absolute shit, and never an occurrence? This cat isn’t sprinting the neighborhood, crossing streets, or hunting for prey; its docile, loves pets, and knows there’s endless food at the liquor store that provides all his needs. He wasn’t your typical outdoor cat that runs from everyone and twitches at unknown sounds; this was an urban dwelling cat that’s been prospering for years.
Waymo promotes and brags to riders how many cameras are inside and out of the car. But it so easily hit something that could fuck the car up if it wasn’t soft squishy flesh. Were animals and small children not in any of its test scenarios? Is it infeasble to install cameras where a typical driver couldn’t usually see?
Not to mention the absolutely rude response waymo has had to this event. Instead of apologizing and pledging improvements and retribution to killing a valued community member; they victim-blamed the dead cat, said they didn’t do anything wrong, and said nothing of mitigating future scenarios.
There’s more I can say about the company and its typical ownership, but I want to keep this to the slaughter at hand and their complete lack of consciousness. Waymo doesn’t care about you or anything that it kills. Once again, its about the bottom line and whatever it can do to turn profit.
Obviously accidents happen, but its the reaction that can truly matter in those cases. They’ve shown that causing great harm in a community means nothing to them. And this is in obvious and outspoken situations. What about the less obvious ways? Whether that be job loss, economic factors, environmental concerns, or blatant safety on our streets. If they’re forced, they’ll make a bullshit apology (aka recognition of events) and then focus on moving forward without addressing people’s grief and anger.
Fuck waymo, fuck their response especially, and fuck anyone saying this cat deserved it by being a lazy sidewalk-laying pillar of joy in the neighborhood.
Rest in Peace KitKat. The community will always love you and remember you for always brightening our days in this endlessly threatening world. The only thing that killed you was the ruthless drive for profit. Your memory will live on in the hearts of many. And as a focal point that citizens must stop allowing corporations from plowing down their neighbors, their voice, and their sunshine in a day’s walk to the store.
3:
EtherWhack@lemmy.world 4 months ago
What I’ve learned working at a startup in stealth mode and having larger projects in the back lot behind the building, is that those cars also do not respect ‘no trespassing’ signs and waymo will wait until it gets to the litigious point to bother to fix their routing.
Auli@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
Don’t want your cat to get hit by a car keep it inside.
funnyBunny@ani.social 4 months ago
I had a cat who went outside every day, never once got hit by a human driver until it happened.
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
My neighbor has had three cats killed by cars, they even ran over their own cat in the driveway.
_cryptagion@anarchist.nexus 4 months ago
nonsense, that your cat was missed by millions of drivers every day that drive down your streets, to think it would be hit by a human boggles the mind. and you don’t even seem to be broken up about the slaughter!
1985MustangCobra@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
when the LA riots happened a few months ago and they were torching waymo cars i was confused why they would do that, now im ok with thoese cars being torched. fuck waymo
boonhet@sopuli.xyz 4 months ago
Waymo/Google has aligned itself with Trump and there are a lot of cameras on those cars. I suspect that was a reason back then. Now there’s more.
LettyWhiterock@lemmy.world 4 months ago
If you let your cat roam around outside, you don’t care about it and don’t deserve it. And if it gets killed, it’s entirely your fault.
EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Your cat
Whose cat was it?
VinnyDaCat@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Yet another reason to despise AI. Animals deserve to be safe too. We’ve already taken so much from them as it is.
Auli@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
Then keep the car inside. Outdoor cats are not safe and get killed by cars animals.
5gruel@lemmy.world 4 months ago
as the comment chain below highlights, autonomous driving AI is completely different from LLMs. Computer vision and control theory have made big improvements because of machine learning, do you despise this too?
deathbird@mander.xyz 4 months ago
It is a bit frustrating how these different technologies are bunched under the same inaccurate moniker.
reddifuge@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Ai has a proven track record of causing less accidents, and killing far fewer animals per km traveled than the average driver.
Auli@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
And have a nice habit of being turned off before the accident so the AI didn’t cause the accident. Numbers are bullshit.
magguzu@midwest.social 4 months ago
Public transportation does this too and isn’t controlled by some company trying to make graphs go up
sobchak@programming.dev 4 months ago
I believe these cars drive on the same roads all day, whereas people are likely to be driving in and out of areas these systems are not familiar with. I suppose a good comparison would be of a taxi driver that only operates in the same area as the driverless cars, if that exists.
ContriteErudite@lemmy.world 4 months ago
There are also a lot of people out there that will intentionally swerve to hit an animal. Mark Rober made a video a long time ago where 6% of drivers went out of their way to hit animals that were just chilling on the shoulder.
GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 4 months ago
here you dropped this
per capita
your figures (though I doubt them) don’t include the skew of driver vs driverless vehicles. of course driverless cars are 92% less likely to have an accident involving animals. that’s because driverless cars account for less than 1% of the entire vehicle population.
Ai doesn’t drink, get distracted, or smoke meth like the ml mods.
but it does randomly hallucinate.
majster@lemmy.zip 4 months ago
link from the article latimes.com/…/woman-gets-millions-after-getting-d…
People get jail time, what do we do with machines?
Macallan@lemmy.world 4 months ago
dan1101@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I’m against robotaxis but in this particular case the taxi was stopped and the cat darted under it as it started to move. A human driver would have likely hit it too.
PlanterTree@discuss.tchncs.de 4 months ago
I wonder how often this scenario happens in the car AIs training data?
majster@lemmy.zip 4 months ago
Cats darting under a car are almost daily occurence where I live. There are numerous situations and we humans adapt quiet well.
nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 months ago
cats don’t dart under moving vehicles. i reckon the statement is partially bullshit
_cryptagion@anarchist.nexus 4 months ago
cats, the animal most notorious for being contrary and doing dangerous things often enough that they were given the mythos of having"nine lives”, never dart under quiet electric moving vehicles?
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 4 months ago
we had one do it once. broke the poor baby’s hips. survived tho
Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I’ve had several times a cat has run out in the road in front of my car, and would have gone under if I hadn’t stopped quickly. Happily I’ve not hit one, few close calls though.
Siegfried@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Rest in peace kitkat
chunes@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Human drivers have probably killed dozens of cats since this singular incident and not a peep. People are so fuckin stupid
Sunflier@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Why are you limiting that just to cats? Many dogs have been hit. People too. I know they’re making a point about how human safety is prioritized over animal safety but, speaking as a human who has been hit by a car (responding officer actually had to do CPR on me while waiting for emergency services), humans are horrendous drivers and taking the responsibility of transportation out of human hands would be a good thing. People suck as drivers and getting hit really hurts ALOT!!!
chunes@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Agreed. The vast majority of people have no business operating automobiles.
corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
People who keep their kids inside but let their pets play in traffic are psychopaths.
I know what I said.
EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Who told you that cat was someone’s pet?
pulsewidth@lemmy.world 4 months ago
The linked article, like the person claimed.
“We send our deepest sympathies to the cat’s owner and the community who knew and loved him"
Picture of cat shows a collar, tag, and bell. It’s a pet.
Maeve@kbin.earth 4 months ago
Zamboni_Driver@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
There is probably an elevated risk of killing cats in any electric vehicle because there are fewer signs that the car is “on” and about to drive.
sefra1@lemmy.zip 4 months ago
Idk, I find that at low speeds electric cars are louder than modern internal combustion. They have that SciFi drone sound.
Zamboni_Driver@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
Not when parked. A cat would thi k it was a parked car.
bss03@infosec.pub 4 months ago
Depending on the year model of the car, it might not make that sound. It wasn’t required on some of the earlier EVs, which could be eerily quiet. I believe it’s required by law on newer models. Pre-2016 Volts has a “pedestrian horn button”; 2016 and newer Volts play a noise continuously as lower speeds. (My Uncle says it sounds like the warp drive hum on the original Star Trek Enterprise.)
Not_mikey@slrpnk.net 4 months ago
Before anyone starts to think there’s a good guy in this story:
some have taken upon themselves to honor KitKat in distinctly Silicon Valley-style ways. Zeidan (part of cats family) has released a memecoin honoring KitKat’s legacy, and also said that he was disappointed to see others launch their own imitation tokens in an attempt to profit off KitKat’s death.
He says he’s going to use the money to support local vets, but why don’t you just share some links to spca to donate directly, you’re providing nothing but a way for you to grift by taking the money through meme coins.
bcgm3@lemmy.world 4 months ago
It’s not just a memecoin, it’s a movement!
Empricorn@feddit.nl 4 months ago
Or even better: Be the “good guy” by giving your cat a happy, healthy, secure, and longer life by keeping them indoors. People hate to be told what to do, and some cats love it outside, but guess what? My dog would love to eat 10lbs of chocolate. We have to look out for their best interests. This obviously doesn’t mean don’t ever take them outside leashed or supervised, but the fact remains: indoor cats have a better, less stressful life, and didn’t decimate local bird populations…
MaggiWuerze@feddit.org 4 months ago
I always ask people how they would think about my Dog coming into their garden unsupervised, shitting and pissing all over the place, digging out flowers and fighting with other Dogs. I’m sure they would be less than thrilled and yet the same is okay for cats.
supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 4 months ago
Yes, this is the extra cherry on top that makes San Francisco look like a parody of itself here lol
uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 months ago
Regicide.
A feline queen reigns over my apartment complex. It’s a fair regime.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 4 months ago
PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml 4 months ago
I’m not sure I trust the kind of person who was perfectly fine with robotaxi’s until an animal was killed. Seems they don’t’ really have a good grasp on the problems of a car-centric society of which road-kill is a very minor one.
Hawke@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Hey whatever it takes to convince people.
SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Let cats use them as litter boxes. Cats’ revenge.
Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de 4 months ago
“But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” – Exodus 21:23-24
Darleys_Brew@lemmy.ml 4 months ago
“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a supper for a dead cat”.
Cort@lemmy.world 4 months ago
A cat for a cat, but it’s an EV, so there is no catalytic converter.
Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de 4 months ago
Whoever takes an animal’s life shall make it good, life for life. - Leviticus 24:18
I’m cool with the CEO’s head or we crush him with a big rock.
xthexder@l.sw0.com 4 months ago
There might be some CAT6 cable inside somewhere
OldChicoAle@lemmy.world 4 months ago
So glad I live far away from the tech bros. Must be so annoying living in the bay area.
tyranical_typhon@lemmings.world 4 months ago
I’ve been to San Francisco and they live like sardines.
It’s not as bad as LA, but they’re trying.
shplane@lemmy.world 4 months ago
It’s not, but everyone has their preferences so live where you wanna live
MoogleMaestro@lemmy.zip 4 months ago
Used to go to SF for work events.
It felt like a town that once had culture that still wants to peek out, but it almost entirely covered with silicon valley monotony and misanthropic policies. It feels like a city where the people living there are the after thought, and the tablet where you order your coffee while you sit around a room where nobody makes eye contact or speaks to you is the product.
I’m sure there’s a part of the city where humanity still thrives, but it should be a cultural warning to those who are adopting silicon valley cures as anything other than snake oil.
Draces@lemmy.world 4 months ago
You were probably downtown for a work event. The culture is in the neighborhoods
snoons@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
Cat’s shouldn’t be left outside in the first place, because of situations like this.
EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Whose responsibility would it be to keep the cat inside?
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 4 months ago
i also approve of bodega cats
Zamboni_Driver@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
When you infantilize an entire species and see them as unworthy of having basic freedom. Hopefully one day you have your “am I the baddy” moment.
snoons@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
They ARE basically toddlers. They are dumb animals that need supervision in an urban environment, if you don’t want to do that you don’t deserve to be a pet owner. Full stop.
archchan@lemmy.ml 4 months ago
[deleted]snoons@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
An urban environment is far removed from anything natural, well I’m not even sure what point you’re trying to make.
HertzDentalBar@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 months ago
Fully agree, this not only highlights the dangers of driverless vehicles but also highlights the fact cats shouldn’t be allowed outside.
Perspectivist@feddit.uk 4 months ago
Highlighting individual cases like this is a good way to capture human emotions but the focus should be on the big picture. The moment a self driving car is statistically safer than a human driver it becomes the objectively better alternative. The fact that accidents will still keep happening nevertheless isn’t a reason to revert back to human drivers.
This same “trick” is used in charity advertisements: starving kid will capture the attention of people but a starving village will not despite the fact that it contains that same kid.
sleen@lemmy.zip 4 months ago
I agree, it’s not a trick however. It’s a deliberate and strategic method of persuasion - a type of call-to-action; or manipulation.
The case of autonomous driving should technically result in safer and more efficient road environment. That is the result of a fully automated system - a user will not be able to misuse or excessively degrade the machine. The same comparison can be applied to manual vs auto transmission where the advantages are quite clear.
Such situation is attributed to the fact that most of it is exacerbated and facts are manipulated. Statistical evidence and comparison of pets killed per 100 vehicles is also missing - because emotions is all it takes for masses to listen.
BakerBagel@midwest.social 4 months ago
You can hold someone accountable when a person runs over a child or a pet. Who is the responsible party when a waymo kills someone?
tomatolung@sopuli.xyz 4 months ago
Good call out of the identifiable victim effect and the affect heuristic, where decisions are driven by emotional responses rather than objective analysis of risks or benefits.
SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 4 months ago
If a waymo killed my cat I would slash the tires of every single one I saw
Rhaedas@fedia.io 4 months ago
Some of us are old enough to remember how cats and other creatures would get killed by old car engine designs with the large open fan driven by a belt. They would sleep on that fan housing and not realize the danger when the car was started. So there have been improvements that have helped, maybe not necessarily for that reason. For what it's worth, I'm on the side of minimizing cars for so many reasons, but it has been worse for animals in the past.
plyth@feddit.org 4 months ago
Some days go:
Waymo’s co-CEO has made a bold assertion that society is prepared to accept a death caused by one of the company’s autonomous vehicles.
ABetterTomorrow@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
You fuck with cats, you fuck with us.
dogslayeggs@lemmy.world 4 months ago
How many cars driven by humans run over cats each day? Do these outraged people think robotaxis are somehow worse than human drivers? If the humans in the car didn’t see the cat, then it doesn’t matter if it was a robot or a human driving at the time.
SnoringEarthworm@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
If they put out a press release about fixing it, I won’t believe it until I see “click the squares with a cat in them” captchas.
Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I wish people were as outraged about people getting killed by human drivers. The safety record of these cars has been no less than stellar until now.
CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 4 months ago
Unpopular opinion: cats are an invasive species and shouldn’t be subject to different regulations than dogs.
Keep them on a leash if you care about them.
phutatorius@lemmy.zip 4 months ago
People who let their cats roam outside are assholes. As well as being vulnerable to getting run over by cars, cats also kill large numbers of birds and small animals.