A taxi from the Waymo company, owned by Alphabet (Google), hit and killed a bodega cat in the Californian city, giving new life to protests against self-driving vehicles
TO San Francisco the controversy against i has reignited robotaxi. The new protests (there had already been some in recent years) were triggered by the death of a catstruck and killed by a self-driving vehicle from Waymoa company owned by Alphabet, in turn the parent company of Google. The animal was called Kit Kat and was known in the city and on social media. He was one of those who United States they are known as bodega catsthat is, cats that live in grocery stores and roam freely among the various neighborhood shops. Once responsible for killing mice, these animals now mainly have a companion role, as well as being often popular on the web. The disappearance of Kit Kat has shaken some San Francisco residents, reigniting the debate over robotaxi. And the question that many citizens ask themselves is often one: following incidents like this, who pays the consequences?
the question of responsibility
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The question of responsibility was also raised Jackie Fielder, supervisor (similar role to our city councillor) of Mission Districtneighborhood of San Francisco, with these words granted to the New York Times: “A human being (protagonist of an accident, ed) can be held responsible, can get out of the car, apologize, or can be tracked down by the police if he fails to help. Here, however, there is no one to ask about what happened“. It should be noted that Waymo admitted the fact, but stated that the cat would have thrown itself under the robotaxi as it left. The company then expressed its regret for the disappearance of the animal to the owner and the community.
past protests
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There have been already in 2024 in San Francisco various complaints against self-driving taxis. One vehicle had even been vandalized and then set on fire. The protests over the years have also been triggered by complaints from firefighters and ambulance staff, who reported having been hindered by the same robotaxis during some emergency missions. It should also be remembered that in 2023 a series of accidentsone of which culminated in the death of a pedestrian (previously hit by a driver-driven taxi and then hit again by the self-driving one) led the California Department of Transportation to revoke the license in the city of San Francisco of Cruise, a robotaxi company from General Motorsonce active alongside Waymo.
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