Featured Waymo kills beloved neighborhood cat

Still no cameras under robo taxis? History repeats itself! Cruise automated taxis had the exact same problem in San Francisco when a pedestrian was struck by another vehicle and thrown under the taxi and despite pleas from people to stop the robo-taxi instead "pulled over to a safe location" dragging the victim under the vehicle as it drove. Even worse in true tech bros fashion they tried to cover up what happened until state and federal investigators realized that city police report was different than their reports. The state revoked their license to operate and company fell apart soon after. Hundreds of millions in VC funding/planning was lost. Cruise admits to false report in 2023 dragging of San Francisco pedestrian - CBS San Francisco

 

If we can't trust you with our neighborhood cat; how will we ever trust you with a safe ride somewhere? #banwaymo

 

FSD repeatedly slows and stops for cats and other critters in the lane or steers around them. Someone suggested potholes should have cats or cat robots anchored in them.

Bob Wilson

 

At least until Elon decides that cats and other critters deserve to be the latest skapegoat to justify more tax cuts and more government contracts for billionaires, which is the only was to "save" the economy.

 

Another thread destined to end up in romper room.

 

Robots please. I draw a line at anchoring cats.

 

Thankfully it wasn't some little 2-year-old with inattentive parents. Still - who hasn't accidentally run over a cat, squirrel, dog, opossum Etc. Some small animals seem to have an instinct to try & beat the car. Then there's elk and moose that when a car hits them, they can come through the windshield then it's all over. Attentiveness. It's got to be more than the machine it has to be attentiveness of the occupant as well.
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I swear I don't get how squirrel brains work. Get out in the middle of the street, then "go for it! no! turn back! no! go for it! no! turn back!" )splat(

 

'beloved neighborhood cat' must have belonged to ellen muks

 

It's a scale thing... To a squirrel a car is a big as 100 foot yacht. And if a human was trying to cross the road and a 100ft yacht came out of nowhere towards them at 35 mph you'd be pretty confused about what to do too!

 

Back to the main point of this post, people are rioting in the streets and destroying Waymo cars because machines can be abused guilt free compared to abusing humans which sometimes can have very serious consequences. It's actually fun to destroy people's expensive robots in defense of your neighborhood: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8Dy17jB/

And it's pretty obvious why Waymo just announced limiting services in SF for a while...

Here's the photo in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/technology/waymo-san-francisco-immigration-protests.html

 

And now its spreading to Los Angeles... When words gets out on the internet that robots are killing cats almost instantly the robots will no longer be safe to travel our roads without armed protection! That 's the way cats and the internet are in charge of everything.

Chaos in Los Angeles: Protesters torch Waymo self-driving cars - Car News | The Financial Express

 

Tragic, but I'm not seeing how the event would have been different with a human driver.

It's a strategy that works when being chased by predators for them.

 

I've seen that "dance" performed by human drivers. It went something like this: The 35 MPH road was 2 lanes plus a parking at the curb in front of single family residences. I was driving a 1972 Triumph 750 CC Bonneville. That 2 cylinder bike easily outran most cars in the area. I was just doing 35 MPH, so I was surprised when a VW Bug full of parents and kids backed into my path and stopped just barely clear of my path.

Since they were clear, I pulled to the right to drive around the nose of the car. As I got closer, the woman driver hit the gas and blocked my way. No problem. I swerved left to go around the back of the car. The kids in the car were laughing and having a good time. Just about the time that I got within 10 feet of the VW the driver gassed it... in reverse.

I was still driving 35 MPH as my front tire buried itself into the cheap metal. The front forks bent. Both of them bent to a 35 degree. The frame deformed such that the gas tank was pushed forward, sustaining a puncture.

It took a month to get all the parts replaced and back on the road.

I would have rather hit a squirrel.