The death of Kit Kat, a beloved stray cat in the Mission district of San Francisco, has unleashed a wave of outrage against Waymo. The feline was hit by a self-driving taxi on October 27, generating a debate that goes far beyond an accident with an animal. And poor Kit Kat is not to blame for anything, but the event shows how we judge the errors of machines very differently compared to those of humans.
A double standard. According to local data, human drivers killed 43 people in San Francisco last year, including 24 pedestrians. As the NYT reflects in your articlelocal authorities estimate that hundreds of animals are killed by vehicles each year in the city. However, none of those cases have generated the level of media attention, makeshift sanctuaries or political debates that the death of a single cat at the hands of a Waymo has provoked.
Reactions. “Waymo? No way. I’m terrified of those things,” declared to the New York Times Margarita Lara, a waitress at the bar where the feline used to walk. Outside Randa’s Market, where the animal lived, a memorial was erected with flowers, photos and a drawing of the feline with a halo. “Save a cat. Don’t use Waymo!” read one sign.
Just like assures The media, City Supervisor Jackie Fielder, who represents the Mission district, presented a resolution so that residents can decide by vote whether to allow autonomous cars to circulate in their area. “A human driver can be considered responsible, he can get off, apologize,” Fielder argued to the American media.
Figures. Waymo does not deny the incident. The company recognized that the cat “jumped under the vehicle as it started” and sent his condolences. However, the firm defends its data, ensuring that its vehicles register 91% fewer serious accidents compared to human drivers who travel the same distances in the same cities, according to a study peer reviewed and published in the specialized journal Traffic Injury Prevention.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie defended the technology, commenting that “Waymo is incredibly safe. It’s safer than you or me driving.” claimed in an interview.
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The paradox of technological innovation. As we said at the beginning of this article, the event has generated a debate beyond the unfortunate accident: it reflects a fundamental tension when adopting disruptive technologies. And each failure of an autonomous system receives a hundred times more media bashing than a hundred equivalent human failures.
In this sense, when a human driver hits an animal, it is an individual tragedy that rarely goes beyond the neighborhood. When a robot does it, it becomes a symbol of uncontrolled technological advancement, even though statistics prove otherwise. San Francisco Animal Control Agency reported to the New York Times that in just one week it had the bodies of 12 cats hit by conventional vehicles in its facilities.
An autonomous future. Waymo now operates a fleet of 1,000 vehicles in the San Francisco Bay area and has announced expansions to highways and airports. What two years ago were small technological showcases has become a tourist attraction and the preferred option of many people.
A survey by the political group Grow SF showed that citizen support for Waymo jumped from 44% in September 2023 to 67% last July. Perhaps the death of Kit Kat has generated detractors, but it is a technological innovation that is increasingly convincing on the streets. Next year will have its litmus test in Europein a much stricter regulatory framework, so it remains to be seen how things progress.
Cover image | Waymo and Daniel Zeidan
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