Representatives of Waymo have emphasised commitment to trust and safety and offered condolences for the loss of KitKat. They also pledged in an Oct 30 statement to donate money to a local animal shelter. — Reuters
The crowd spilled from a convenience store entryway to the blacktop on busy 16th Street, encircling a shrine with cat pictures and wisps of baby's breath.
More than eight days had passed since the death of "KitKat," a nine-year-old tabby struck and killed by a Waymo at this very site, in the heart of San Francisco's Mission District. Grief over the incident had transformed into palpable rage as mourners, and city leaders, shifted their focus to the self-driving vehicles.
"This event has catalysed a lot of negative feelings," said Justin Dolezal, leader of the group Small Business Forward, who appeared at a rally Tuesday morning to demand justice for KitKat, and call for more restraint on Waymo and other robotaxis.
A button pinned to Dolezal's jacket lapel had a picture of a giant striped cat crushing a Waymo in its claws.
"Protect Kittens," the button said. "Ban Waymos."
Supervisor Jackie Fielder had organised the demonstration on Tuesday to promote a resolution she planned to introduce at the Board of Supervisors meeting that afternoon, calling for dramatic changes to the way Waymo and other AVs are regulated. Fielder wants to empower voters to ban these cars from their individual counties, a form of local control that would prevent tech companies from building regional transportation networks.
In many senses, this idea is not new. State Sen. David Cortese, a San Jose Democrat, pushed a bill last year that would have allowed for local control of AVs, but it died amid opposition from Silicon Valley. Still, critics of these vehicles have warned for years that they would undermine public transportation and siphon business from professional human drivers. When a self-driven Cruise vehicle dragged and severely injured a jaywalking pedestrian in 2023, sceptics began scrutinising the companies' safety records. (The Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Cruise's license to operate indefinitely over its handling of the incident.)
But it took the death of a cat to really galvanise – and divide – the public.
Patrons of Randa's Market, the bodega next to Roxie Theater where KitKat lived, described the tabby as a visible presence on the block, slinking up to passerby with such a genteel air that people called him "the Mayor of 16th Street."
Now, that affectionate title has conferred an extra layer of importance to his death, making it seem all the more tragic and violent.
"The mayor of this space, as he was known, was taken by a technology that none of us asked for," Dolezal told the crowd at Randa's, characterising Waymo as a "faceless corporation" that participates in "mass surveillance" by loading its vehicles with cameras and sensors.
Tuesday's rally became a forum for every group that has a pre-existing beef with AVs. The teamsters made cameos to represent drivers who now see their jobs threatened and their passenger loading zones overtaken by robots. Dylan Fabris, community and policy manager of San Francisco Transit Riders, spoke passionately about the erosion of public transit as self-driving cars create congestion and compete for riders.
A few apparent counter protesters jeered from the sidewalk, insisting that human drivers are actually worse.
"At least they're not killing people!" a woman's voice yelled in defence of the Waymos during Dolezal's speech.
Representatives of Waymo have emphasised the company's commitment to trust and safety and offered condolences for the loss of KitKat. They also pledged in an Oct 30 statement to donate money to a local animal shelter.
Inside Randa's, owner Mike Zeidan had the moist and sunken eyes of someone truly bereaved. He said KitKat had lived inside his store for six years before the night of Oct 27, when he darted beneath a Waymo just as it pulled away from the curb.
Asked to comment on the moment of reckoning that stemmed from KitKat's death, Zeidan wearily shook his head.
"I don't have anything else to say," he mumbled. "It's turned into politics now." – San Francisco Chronicle/Tribune News Service
