Musk says Tesla robotaxis will avoid pets, unlike Waymo

"What a lot of people don't know is that Waymos are like pet destroyers," Musk said, adding, "Well, maybe Waymo's made some improvements on that front, but they do run over a lot of pets, and we don't want to run over pets."

Waymo has faced criticism for animal collisions, notably an incident in October 2025 where a cat named KitKat died after being run over by a Waymo vehicle. According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Standing General Order, Waymo reported at least nine crashes involving animals between July 2025 and July 2026, six of which involved domestic animals. A Waymo spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tesla's robotaxi service also reported an animal-related collision during the same timeframe, though it involved a supervised robotaxi. Tesla operated a smaller fleet, with most of its unsupervised operations concentrated in Austin. Musk elaborated that Tesla's robotaxi will be capable of detecting roaming pets, even in challenging conditions such as "gray kittens on a gray tarmac with tar seams at night in low visibility."