Beloved SF cat’s loss of life fuels Waymo criticism

The loss of life of a neighborhood bodega cat named Equipment Kat has shaken San Francisco’s Mission District, in keeping with The New York Instances.

After Equipment Kat was run over by a Waymo robotaxi on the night of October 27, locals created a shrine to memorialize him. The realm has additionally been embellished with competing indicators, some criticizing Waymo, others noting the numerous deaths attributable to human drivers.

Jackie Fielder, who represents the Mission District on SF’s Board of Supervisors, introduced up Equipment Kat whereas making the case for a proposed metropolis decision that calls on the state to permit native voters to resolve whether or not driverless vehicles can function of their neighborhoods.

“A human driver may be held accountable, can hop out, apologize, may be tracked down by police if it’s a hit-and-run,” Fielder instructed the Instances. “Right here, there is no such thing as a one to carry accountable.”

Waymo, whose co-CEO not too long ago spoke at Disrupt in regards to the significance of security, described the incident as one the place a cat “darted beneath our automobile because it was pulling away.” The corporate mentioned it sends “our deepest sympathies to the cat’s proprietor and the group who knew and cherished him.”