Waymo boss says people will “accept” if driverless cars kill someone

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Tekedra Mawakana, the head of Waymo, suggests the public will likely “accept” incidents where a self-driving taxi causes a fatal accident, such as running over a pedestrian. This comes after a Waymo vehicle previously struck and killed a cat.

Self-driving taxis are becoming increasingly common in the U.S. Companies like Tesla are testing their robotaxis in Texas, Amazon’s Zoox is operating in Las Vegas, and Waymo is now expanding its service from the West Coast to cities on the East Coast.

Despite the convenience, robotaxi services have experienced some problems. There have been reports of passengers being left stranded in traffic, Waymo vehicles honking unnecessarily late at night, and instances of taxis running red lights.

In San Francisco, a Waymo self-driving car tragically hit and killed a cat named Kitkat. Despite this incident, Waymo’s CEO, Tekedra Mawakana, has suggested that the public will eventually become accustomed to accidents involving people, even if caused by their driverless cars.

Waymo boss admits they’re planning for day taxi kills someone

TechCrunch’s Kirsten Korosec asked Mawakana whether people would be okay with someone dying in an accident potentially caused by a robot.

Waymo’s co-CEO believes society needs to demand high safety standards from companies. They emphasized the importance of companies being open about their safety records and sharing data on how often their vehicles are involved in accidents.

We need to be realistic – things won’t always be perfect. However, that doesn’t excuse us from being open and honest about what’s happening. As a company, we anticipate challenging times and focus on communicating when issues arise, rather than avoiding the topic altogether. We prepare for these situations in advance.

When asked if people would accept an accident caused by a self-driving car, Waymo’s CEO believes they will.

— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) October 29, 2025

Mawakana pointed out that there’s no truly acceptable number of crashes, but many collisions are caused by drivers making mistakes.

After KitKat’s death, Waymo promised to donate to an animal welfare group in San Francisco.

Our top concern is the well-being and security of the people in the communities we serve,” a spokesperson said to KRON4.

Look, everyone around here loved KitKat, and honestly, it’s just awful how it happened. I’ve actually been hit by one of those delivery robots myself, and a bunch of my friends have too. It’s just… gross, you know? That’s not how an animal should go. It really upset a lot of us.

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2025-10-31 15:20