The loss of life of a neighborhood bodega cat named Equipment Kat has shaken San Francisco’s Mission District, in response to The New York Occasions.
After Equipment Kat was run over by a Waymo robotaxi on the night of October 27, locals created a shrine to memorialize him. The world has additionally been adorned with competing indicators, some criticizing Waymo, others noting the various deaths brought on by 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 automobiles can function of their neighborhoods.
“A human driver will be held accountable, can hop out, express regret, will be tracked down by police if it’s a hit-and-run,” Fielder informed the Occasions. “Right here, there isn’t any one to carry accountable.”
Waymo, whose co-CEO just lately spoke at Disrupt concerning the significance of security, described the incident as one the place a cat “darted below our automobile because it was pulling away.” The corporate stated it sends “our deepest sympathies to the cat’s proprietor and the neighborhood who knew and beloved him.”
